Supporters of Bernie Sanders and the Green Party march with Cornel West in Philadelphia, PA, during the Democratic National Convention.
(Image by (photo: Andrew Stefan/RSN)) Details DMCA
Donald Trump is uniting the left. I hear you -- he's the great divider as well, dividing the country into racial, religious and gender factions. He is, however, also uniting the left. Of course, I would rather have a real uniter like Bernie Sanders lead the way (good thing he is). But that doesn't mean there isn't a role to be played for someone like Trump. I wish it hadn't come to this, but Trump is clearly motivating unity on the left.
Bernie-crats, greeners, Clinton supporters, and even anarchists are together in the streets protesting Trump's policies. We need to build on this unity, strengthening coalitions in our outside strategy. Of course, down the road we will have to fight it out to decide who takes on Trump in 2020, but until that time let's work together.
We've had our time to blame each other. While many of us won't admit it, we all had a part in electing Trump. I could list things all of us could have done differently. I guess we could learn from them, but I think we've already blamed each other enough. There is plenty of blame to go around, and those willing to learn have taken responsibility. It's time to move forward and leave the past behind.
During the next primary season, we will battle it out again and hopefully unite under one flag to beat Trump and take back Congress. In the meantime, primary your congressperson if you think we can put someone in who will do a better job. That's politics. That is the inside game; the outside strategy can be less competitive. We don't have to agree on everything, just the issue we're protesting that day.
You don't have to oppose all pipelines to be against the use of eminent domain to seize a farmer's land. Environmentalists and farmers can unite against the Dakota Access Pipeline. You don't have to support abortion to be for funding women's health.