It appears that the GOP isn’t the only political party in the United States to rig shit in favor of their mainstream, corporate candidates.
Friday, the DNC announced changes to their debate eligibility rules removing individual donor requirements. The move in and of itself paves the way for billionaire Michael Bloomberg and his self-funded campaign to take the debate stage.
The announcement from the DNC comes at an interesting time considering Bernie Sanders has surged to the top of the polls ahead of next week’s Iowa Caucus’ which could firmly implement the Vermont Senator as the favorite heading into a general election against Donald Trump. And speaking of Sanders, his campaign — which was previously fucked over by the DNC during the 2016 Democratic Primaries — sounded off on the DNC’s tendencies to favor billionaires instead of grassroot campaigns.
“To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong,” Sanders senior adviser Jeff Weaver told Politico. “That’s the definition of a rigged system.”
Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir added in a tweet: “DNC changing the rules to benefit a billionaire, I much prefer Democrats being a grassroots party. And under Bernie Sanders, that’s the way it will be.”
It’s also probably key to note that according to The Intercept‘s Ryan Grim, citing Federal Elections Commission data, Bloomberg donated $325,000 to the DNC in November 2019.
Meanwhile, progressive strategist Tim Tagaris wondered what could have been different if not for the qualifications.
“How much money did candidates like Julián Castro and Cory Booker have to spend chasing donor thresholds that could have been spent building organizations in early states?” said Tagaris.
Then again, Bernie wasn’t as big of a threat to the establishment then as he is now.
