The “Bernie Bros” smoking gun is no smoking gun at all

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In the week after the election, I didn't listen to or read any national punditry. I still don't. As a result, I was late to the Hillary supporters "Bernie Bros" smear which identifies Sanders supporters as crypto-racists who want to throw POC, women, and gays under the bus in order to appeal to white nationalists who live in the rust belt. Entering late, I've been on my heals and frankly confused about the whole zero sum game that was underway. My fist reaction was, "C'mon guys, everyone can be a little right and a little wrong." But that didn't work. Collegiality seemed to have completely broken down. Here is my forensic take on what happened.

The December 14, 2016 Thread

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Matt Yglesias:
Democrats have a deep, dark worry that they can’t express publicly. After long, frustrating years of trying and failing to get congressional Republicans to agree to do some fiscal stimulus to boost the economy, they’re worried that Trump is now going to get the cooperation they couldn’t. Enormous tax cuts will widen the deficit and stimulate the economy, and the cuts will be paired with a substantial infrastructure program that further boosts growth. “Well, sometimes you have to prime the pump,” Donald Trump told Time magazine, explaining blithely how he plans to brush aside years of conservative anti-Keynesian rhetoric. The hypocrisy here is truly stunning, though in a sense conservatives have consistently (since the Reagan Era) adhered to the view that big deficits are good if and only if there’s a Republican in the White House. But, beyond hypocrisy, the bad news for America — albeit good news for Democratic Party politicians — is that it won’t work. Which is too bad, because there is reason to believe stimulus could work and help raise wages and put a few million extra people back to work. It’s just that to make it work Trump would have to make some additional changes that there’s no indication he wants to make.