The well documented conspiracy in the DNC, which included many in the media, to scuttle Bernie’s campaign pushed a large number of former Dems and many who only became Dems to vote for him in closed primaries to exit the party. Those voters now make up a considerable percentage of Bernie’s supporters and can be expected to rejoin the party unless they see a replay of the tactics of ’16. The party cannot defeat Trump, as low as that bar should be, without them.

Independents now make up over 40% of eligible voters and Bernie has shown the most potential to attract their votes of any candidate to date. All indications point to the current Dem leadership having not learned their lesson and failing to understand that Bernie, in spite of being an old white guy, has enough followers across a wide spectrum of voters to make or break political parties. The DNC has the power to decide which way it goes for their party by how fairly they treat Bernie. Between a rapidly declining middle class and climate change the threat of Trump having a second term is little different from the threat of a neoliberal third way Dem who serves the same interests.