There is evidence that some of Bernie’s supporters are reacting in a sectarian spirit to Biden’s surge and his near lock on the nomination. They apparently have forgotten, if they ever learned, that this is a democratic moment, not a socialist moment. And it calls for a particular strategic approach that accents a broad, diverse, and multi-class alliance against right wing authoritarian rule. Such an alliance doesn’t preclude struggle, but its accent is on unity in the face of an existential threat — a second Trump term.

But Bernie and many of his supporters don’t seem to understand this. They fight the Democratic Party Establishment (read the moderate and liberal wing of the party) as much as Trump. And why not? In their understanding, the task is to usher in a political revolution and plunge a stake to the heart of neoliberalism once and for all. Thus the problem in this phase of the elections in their rendering isn’t so much Trump as weak kneed Democrats who won’t drink the socialist Kool Aid.

But here’s the problem with this approach, it isn’t just Establishment Democrats who aren’t on board with a political revolution. Tens of millions of other Democrats have said No Thank You as well. That’s the meaning of the Michigan primary and other recent primaries where voters cast vote for Joe Biden in large numbers. Later tonight we will see if primary voters in Fl, AZ, and IL do the same. Realism has a place in politics.