So, while he is clearly not above sheepdogging for them, it seems like going through a tortuous campaign for that reason alone is not a reasonable sacrafice.
In the era of Trump I believe describing Bernie’s actions since the ’16 primaries as “sheep-dogging” is unreasonable. Bernie makes his objections to the DNC quite clear when he changes his party affiliation to Independent whenever he isn’t running for President. Considering the loss of registered Democrats who followed his leave since, that is a rather effective, albeit subtle, condemnation.
There is no Independent caucus available to him in the Senate and the nation is clearly divided, in terms of political power at least, into two factions. The time to change that is not during the Presidential campaign when it would all but silence his voice should he consider a third party run. That will require a very well planned and funded effort at the grassroots level in the states where the actual rules and processes that enable the two-party system are established. FDR was elected to four terms as a party of one, but that was in the midst of the worst depression in history and with WWII thrown in the middle.
The investment/donor class spent the next fifty years making sure that wouldn’t happen again by acquiring the DNC as it would a corporate entity in a hostile takeover.
Progressives are notorious for their focused attention on Presidential campaigns, not even making a showing during off-year elections when much of the power in the states is decided. This displays a profound lack of understanding of our election/governing system and perhaps a bit of victimhood mentality that allows a consistent drain of Congressional seats such as we witnessed, both at the national and state levels, since 2000.
A President is the leader of both the country and the party s/he represents, but the DNC seems to feel comfortable with the loss of power in the states, almost as if they would rather see large advantages to conservative issues than any true progressive movement that might actually benefit the people. This possibility would be supported by the lackluster opposition the party presents to more than obvious conservative manipulations, such as blatant gerrymandering, efforts to restrict registrations, and voter roll purges.
With almost the entire court system, federal and state, now firmly packed with conservative political players this isn’t likely to change anytime soon, perhaps in our lifetimes. The stage is set for a right-wing fascist government to completely dominate the left, and our democratic process, and only the buffoonish inept nature and general combativeness of Trump has given us one last shot at reversing the trend. Think of where we would be now if Trump were a competent and charismatic politician in the mold of Reagan.
Bernie represents far more than a “movement”.
