If Elizabeth Warren can’t be part of the revolution, we’re going to lose.

The Democratic senator from Massachusetts deserved better, and should have been seen as an ally in the fight for a better world. But now that she’s dropped her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, her once-obvious endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., now seems less likely. Even if Warren does endorse Sanders, the left movement is fractured and our electoral success is now questionable.

We can’t keep doing this to ourselves. If we want that better world, we’re going to need some comrades. Let’s look at what went wrong and how it can be better.

What happened

To illustrate how this all went wrong, I’ll use a wrong prediction I made last month when I all but eliminated former Vice President Joe Biden from the primary.

I saw his poor performances here in Iowa and in New Hampshire and rising moderate alternatives. I thought the “establishment” lane would consolidate behind someone other than Biden.

In turn, I thought the “progressive” lane would get behind either Warren or Sanders. Since the democratic socialist won the popular vote in the first two states (and would go on to win again in Nevada), I blindly assumed Warren would get behind him to form a progressive-socialist coalition to win the nomination and the White House.

Neither of those predictions worked out, and there are several lessons to take from this other a reminder for me not to over-punditize.

Why it shouldn’t happen

For this next section, we need to go to The Dungeon (also known as Twitter).

The Dungeon discourse has settled on two main narratives of Warren supporters. One is that Bernie Bros were mean to them, called them and their candidate snakes, and now they’re folding into Biden’s camp. A second group is committed to the #NotMeUs mission and are migrating to Sanders.

But it shouldn’t be this way, right? There should be a natural alliance for anyone who recognizes the need for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and a big, structural revolution that will pursue equality and justice.

Others in the Dungeon have pointed out how grossly sexist this all feels. Journalist Liz Plank said it better than I could:

“Warren being expected to drop out for a man who told her a woman couldn’t win and then called a liar for speaking up about it is a special kind of sexist sandwich.”

How it should happen

This isn’t a movement. This is a mess.

Part of me feels yucky since the nominee won’t be a woman — something that should be an unofficial requirement for the next president. Another part feels like I’m somehow betraying my leftist stance by elevating someone who said they’re a “capitalist to my bones.” 

But that’s how democratic politics winds up working. “Politics is compromise” is often uttered by those far too willing to settle, but the thinking applies here. If progress is going to be made, different left-leaning visions are going to have to work together. In the American context, that means a progressive-socialist alliance.

Yeah, it’d be nice to conjure up a fancy eco-trotskyist/soc-fem agenda that abolishes everything bad and creates everything good. But we’re not there yet, and we need to start running in the correct direction instead of perfecting the ideal first step.

And this isn’t impossible.

Sanders has already earned support from many who aren’t on the hard left. The Dungeon’s “chief neoliberal shill” Matthew Yglesias got on the socialist’s side months ago. When The Daily Iowan endorsed Sanders, we highlighted his personal integrity and conviction. As for how to win over the Warrenites defecting to Biden, I’d suggest focusing on his problematic personal history with women and his mistreatment of Anita Hill (which put Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, and is now deciding the fate of Roe v. Wade).

A better future is possible, and the snake emoji isn’t going to get us there.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.

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