Sanders Fires Back At Leftists Mad He Didn’t Endorse Francesca Hong

Bernie Sanders spent a decade building a brand as the guy who shows up for the socialist insurgents, the one who'll fly into any district to stump for the candidate the party establishment doesn't want. So it's a little funny to watch him get mugged by his own base for sitting one out. Francesca Hong loses a close primary in Wisconsin and suddenly the same online left that treats Sanders like a saint is demanding to know why he didn't personally save her campaign.

His answer, that he only has so much time and money and can't be everywhere, is true as far as it goes. But it's also a tidy little admission of something we've been saying for a while: the "movement" Sanders built runs almost entirely on his own personal energy and endorsement. Take him out of a race and the coalition doesn't hold on its own. That's not a strength. That's a dependency.

Watching progressives turn on their own patron saint over a state legislative primary tells you something about where that flank of the Democratic Party actually is right now. It's not unified, it's not disciplined, and it's not particularly interested in strategy. It's interested in loyalty tests, and Sanders just failed one by his own side's rules.

There's a lesson here that has nothing to do with Bernie personally. A coalition that eats its most sympathetic allies over a single missed endorsement isn't building anything durable. It's just waiting for the next excuse to turn on each other.