Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez to stump for Abdul el Sayed in Michigan Senate primary

Bernie Sanders and AOC are getting the band back together, and this time the venue is Michigan, where they're parachuting in to boost Abdul el Sayed over whoever the Democratic establishment would prefer. Call the tour "The People vs. The Powerful" if you want, but strip away the branding and what you've got is two national progressive celebrities trying to install their preferred candidate in a state primary because the local electorate can't be trusted to get it right on its own.

This is the same play they've run before. Find a Senate seat, find a candidate who checks the ideological boxes, then show up with the star power to drown out everyone else in the race. El Sayed doesn't need to build a coalition in Michigan when Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are willing to lend him theirs. It's less a grassroots movement than a franchise operation, and voters in Michigan should ask themselves why two people who don't answer to them get a say in who does.

None of this is illegal or even unusual by modern standards. Politicians campaign for allies all the time. But there's something worth noticing when the party that constantly warns about billionaires buying elections is fine with celebrity senators buying primaries with their name recognition instead of their money. The currency is different. The transaction is the same.

If el Sayed's ideas can't win Michigan Democrats over on their own merits, borrowing Sanders and AOC's fame for a weekend won't fix that. It might paper over it just long enough to get through a primary, which seems to be the whole point.