• DagwoodIII@piefed.social
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    9 hours ago

    People didn’t learn from the “Bernie Bros” who told people not to vote for Clinton in 2016.

    Two things I always point out.

    Frederick Douglas worked for Lincoln in 1860, despite the fact that Lincoln was not an abolition candidate. At best he was willing to consider it. Douglas could have backed a full on abolitionsit, but he decided it was better to win with a poor candidate than to lose with a perfect one.

    Second, MLK had a gay second in command. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin]

    Rustin and King knew that 1960s America wasn’t ready for a gay rights movement, so they kept Rustin in the background.

    • xyzzy@lemmy.today
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      7 hours ago

      Please stop repeating this myth. 80% of Sanders supporters voted for Clinton in 2016. This was up to 10% higher than the percentage of Clinton supporters who voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Exactly.

        Hillary lost because she was an unpopular candidate who represented The Establishment™ against an anti-establishment buffoon and then proceeded to botch her campaign, fucking around in Michigan (and then blowing the campaign.)

        things like telling the SEIU not to focus on Michigan to “fool” trump into competing in Iowa.

    • TheFogan@programming.dev
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      8 hours ago

      Rustin and King knew that 1960s America wasn’t ready for a gay rights movement, so they kept Rustin in the background.

      Though it is worth pointing out MLK’s movement continued to expand to other groups, was more of a pro-socialist push near the end and probably would have kept going, had he not gotten shot.

      • DagwoodIII@piefed.social
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        8 hours ago

        You can do whatever speculation you want, it doesn’t change the fact that King knew what was possible and what wasn’t.

        I’ve seen people quote “Letter From the Birmingham Jail” over and over when they want to push people to action. They ignore the fact that King was a savvy politician who knew how to get the best results.