If you’ve followed the news media over the last few days, you would think that the divide at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia is intense and significant. On Monday afternoon, during a meeting with Bernie Sanders delegates in Salon A, the narrative was set. Pleading with his own delegates to vote for Hillary Clinton, Bernie ran into a crowd where loud boos, chants of “F*ck Hillary,” and other similar loud screams were heard.
I walked out of the Bernie delegate meeting and told an Associated Press reporter, “Control here may have just been lost. I don’t know if these people can ever really be reached.” After a day in Philadelphia, though, it is now more clear than ever: This is a small group that grows smaller by the hour.
In too many cases, they are also influenced by bad information and outside parties which, at their heart, were always made up of Trump-supporting Republicans who seek to meddle, or third party growth advocates who really don’t care.
As we exited the event, several delegates around me began with the pitch: “Trump wouldn’t be dangerous. I’m sick of that pitch, maybe we should have Trump ... it’s not our fault if that happens ...” With anger and rage, the early afternoon Bernie delegate meeting seemed to present the divide that the press wanted and looked for at the end of Night One: Bernie votes would not come home. Contacted by media friends, it was pretty clear this is the story that everyone was after. How out of control would Bernie supporters truly be?
By the end of Night One, though, several delegates had changed their tune. Standing next to David Corn of Mother Jones and a few others in line for the busses home, a Virginia delegate informed us that until that moment she had always been a “Bernie or Bust” supporter—if it wasn’t Bernie, she didn’t plan to vote, at all. But listening that night to the issues that could be impacted, she said, changed her mind. Plus, she pointed out that talking to people about how the party platform and rules were affected assured her that all of the work she put into the Sanders campaign had already made a big change.
Time after time through Monday night, this is the story I heard. While the evening began with around 40 to 50 people actively booing and trying to cause trouble, by the time Michelle Obama hit the stage, it was only a handful from California for the most part who were actively working to make a scene.
Tuesday morning, Sen. Sanders made the rounds to the states to tell delegates the simple truth: It is easy to boo, but it is hard to impossible to explain to the people who would be harmed by a Trump presidency why you sat on your hands and let it happen.
Post-breakfasts on Wednesday morning, protests were still ongoing in the city square. Wearing non-convention gear (a Hamilton shirt, shorts, and shoes), I walked over and talked to the protesters. Rather than present myself as a delegate, my intent was to find out exactly what the protesters’ current theory was, and it didn’t take very long.
The problem is that too many of those talking to protesters had been doing so from a very liberal point of view, and some of those protesting had that lingo down. Approaching them using conservative talking points folded several protesters like tents. With a few delegates who were still in the “or bust” category, I posed the question: “So, what about Trump? I mean if you were thinking about a Trump presidency ...” and without being negative, I tried to thread the line over Trump’s popular campaign. “Oh, no, dude, Trump is totally anti-TPP. And Hillary is all corrupt, you know ...” and within a few minutes, it was pretty clear that at least in this case, the protesting anti-TPP advocate was as much a Trump supporter as he was anything that mattered to Hillary.
Much of the discussion there in the city square focused around information that was a bald-faced lie, or a way to inform others about proposals that were impossible. A young woman raised the question of the Supreme Court. Another delegate said: “Those are for life, you know ...” Another young protester quickly stormed over, insisting, “We’re going to change that, we’re going to change that!” I asked: “How do you mean that?” The response was, “Have you heard Dr. Stein speak? We’re going to make all judges elected by the public. We have to do it.” suddenly, the narrative had switched from Trump to Stein to constitutional proposals.
A delegate near me turned to her friend and we all thought the same thing: There is something VERY wrong with this picture.
I’m sure the next few nights will bring some protests, as protesters in the square offered “multi-fold” signs for Jill Stein and Trump they promised “could be folded up small and expanded in the convention center.” Maybe a few will get in.
But as the week presses on, more delegates are catching on that they are being used for an outcome they may not desire.
If you’re watching at home, you can ignore the narrative that tells you that protests are large and that the “bust” crowd is huge. It isn’t. If you think that the Bernie supporters quit en masse or just want trouble, that is also wrong.
Bernie has 1800+ delegates. I’m sure 10 percent, or maybe even a bit more, feel that way. And it is certainly enough to generate some noise.
But whether it is right or left media, don’t buy the concept that Bernie supporters are all leaving or want to quit. It simply isn’t true. Neither is it true that they refuse to work together—watching our rules adopted was proof they can.
Will there be noise and a chance for media to continue with that narrative? Yes. But every day, that story weakens. Because too many here can see through the agitators and outsiders that seek conflict instead of results.