Polls probably indicated he couldn’t overcome Sanders or Biden. And the fat lady hasn’t started to sing yet so don’t rule any of the remaining contenders out just yet. (Especially Bloomberg.)

Just based on political movies and TV series I’ve seen…Mayor Pete cut a deal for a high goverment position if his party wins.

I agree with you @Demosthenes. They are doing anything to stop Sanders. I’m sure Pete was offered something big.

Many of Pete’s supporters are not happy with his endorsement of Biden and will not be voting for him.

They’re screwing Bernie Sanders again, I agree with @Demosthenes and @Jonsblond

Pete Buttigieg and his delegates, as with Amy Klobuchar and her delegates, will suppport Biden.

Elizabeth Warren will NOT drop out, because her delegates and constituents would back Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren would not want this anyway. I agree he was doing well and had to be offered something big. The system stinks to the core, and I don’t even have a dog in this fight.

Supporters of Buttigieg still have forty years he could run by today’s standards as he is only 38 years old. Maybe in the future he will run and win. But this is the last year Bernie Sanders could run and be credible.

Donald Trump, the oldest president ever elected I think, is now the youngest president in this race.

I personally don’t want Bernie to win, or any Democrat. But Bernie is their most viable option, and deserves a fair shot at POTUS.

Its a way to screw Bernie Sanders a second time and prop up Biden. But I don’t think it will work.

It was planned ahead of any campaigning. Starting with several, and then having them drop away at various stages gives the impression there was some choice for voters. The most viable drop first, mostly, so people will say, oh gosh, well I guess I’ll be voting for Biden. He is the best we have left.
Pete is being groomed for 24, because really, everyone knows Donald has 20 locked in.

@Demosthenes: “I’m no fan of Sanders, but it seems to me that if the establishment props up Biden to face Trump this year they will have learned nothing from 2016.”

This.

But remember – Democrats would rather lose to Trump than lose control of their party, just like in 2016.

We’re seeing the last days of the Democratic party. A Biden win or brokered convention will be the end – an end that well-deserved.

I suspect it was a back-room deal. He was on Meet The Press and made the statement that he was in it for the long haul and then hours later announced he was dropping out.

It is no stretch to conclude that the Democratic establishment seeks the candidate gauged at having the best chance against Trump. The party movers and shakers are doing precisely the same thing Republicans did with Trump when it appeared that he had an ACTUAL chance at becoming their nominee—they badmouthed the shit out of him and declared him for the clownish buffoon he most assuredly is. There was great fear that the dummy would actually do what he loudly threatened and rock the boat through sure stupidity. When it became clear that “boat” to be rocked would NEVER include the yachts, none of the other appalling warts mattered, and STILL don’t to the present day. Bernie, on the other hand, is a MUCH more credible threat specifically to those yachts, and indeed threatens mainstays of Democratic financing—educated supposed liberal elites comprising Wall Street, the banking, and corporate tech sectors. The problem was and remains far thornier for the Democrats than it was for the Republicans with Trump for the simple reason that EVERYONE believes Sanders intends to do EXACTLY what he says in regard to the financial apple cart and the way apples are to be distributed. And they are right in being afraid. The odds against anyone so dedicated to defiance of the maxim that the rich must always get richer (no matter what) are formidable indeed. Biden is the great SAFE bet for assured “business as usual”, and as with Hillary, it’s his turn.

@stanley Astute. I agree 100%.

The party leaders informed him that it was time for him to go. They were using him to be their “gay” candidate thinking the country wasn’t ready. Then he started to gain momentum & he wasn’t the “yes man” that they were looking for, so it was time for him to fade away so they can pick their favorite son!!!

Don’t know whether Warren received the memo or not…or IF she’s simply choosing to ignore it. I doubt that Bloomberg is going to willingly fade away. The party leaders use the old “for the good of the party” talk when dumping the unchosen ones!!!

To stop Bernie.

This is the tactic to stop Bernie from getting a majority of delegates. If Bernie has 49% of them (and everyone else is at like 20%) the party can give the nomination to whoever. If they do this, Trump will win. I would vote 3rd party in this scenario (and I’m certainly not alone).

Let me just add that at this point in the election, a vote for anyone other than Bernie in the primary is a vote for Trump.

@hmmmmmm I doubt the end of the Democratic party is at hand, like you assume. I think, if anything, the Democrats will simply align their party’s platform to a more moderate stance.

@kritiper If the Democratic party codifies around being the party of trade deals/outsourcing, big business, wine caves, with a pro-gay-marriage twist that likes to weaponize identity to try to prevent progressive policy, then it will not only consistently fail to win seats, but it would also open the door to a working class 3rd party. I’m pretty much done with them at this point. Bernie is their last prayer to keep me in the fold—and I’m a moderate.

It was a simple calculation. He wasn’t going to win this time, and dropping out now buys goodwill from the party, before he gets blamed for messing up a primary he was effectively out of. He has too long of a career in front of him for a messy, dragged out fight that he wouldn’t win. I disagree that he had to be offered something for his support, he chose the moderate lane many months ago, and as a young party darling without a job lined up, I think it’s safe to assume that any democrat who won would throw him a cabinet position, without it ever being explicitly stated.

Now, regarding the comparison between this year and 2016. Clinton was hated in a way that Biden isn’t hated and Clinton had a scandal surface right before the election (“creepy Joe” simply doesn’t have the same stigma following him yet). I do think that Biden will likely lose against Trump, but the circumstances are not identical.

Totally the DNC trying to stop Sanders.

@Demosthenes Biden would be a fucking trainwreck of a nominee. Like Clinton and other “moderate Democrats,” Joe does best in the red states that are all but certain for Trump anyways and he struggles in the rust belt where this election will be won and lost. He’s clearly experiencing some cognitive decline. He has an awful record on a variety of policies that Trump will rake him over the coals for:

- Cutting Social Security (Trump talked about this too, but he doesn’t care about being hypocritical)
– Crime Bill
– War in Iraq
– Bankruptcy bill
– NAFTA

Then there’s the whole controversy about Biden’s son getting paid a fortune to sit on the corporate board for a Ukrainian energy firm, which stinks to high-hell even if it’s not technically illegal. The cherry on top is there’s tons of clips of him creepily sniffing the hair of little girls.

If I had to choose between Clinton 2016 vs Trump and Biden 2020 vs. Trump, I think Clinton has the better odds of loosing by a smaller margin. If anyone’s delusional enough to think that dumpster-fire of a candidate is the best choice vs. Trump, I’m all ears. Remember that Biden won his very first primary state in over 30 years running for president (since 1984).

I don’t know anyone who actually thinks he is the best choice other than establishment politicians. I’ve yet to hear from a Biden supporter in the flesh. Every Democrat I know is for Sanders, Buttigieg, or Warren. The Democratic party likes Biden because he does well with “people of color”, but the reality is that white people (particularly white working class voters in swing states) determined the outcome of the election in 2016 and will probably do it again this year.

I don’t think anyone knows who can beat Trump and I don’t trust the polls. What I do know is that I will support whatever candidate gets the nomination even though it’s not likely to be my favorite.

That’s my plan, too @janbb.

@Demosthenes Bloomberg on the other hand…..

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-bloomberg-selma-alabama-churchgoers-turn-backs/

My theory…. Pete entered the race largely not because he thought he could win but because it was the best and quickest way to get his name out nationally. Don’t get me wrong. I liked him and would have happily voted for him as the candidate but keep having the thought that, “Hmm, I wonder if he didn’t even think he’d be in it that strongly this far along, hence dropping out when the odds turned against him makes sense.” He’s done what he may have planned to do and his timely withdrawal from the race actually gives him even more of a brand boost than if he’d simply kept plugging along and lost.

@AlaskaTundrea I wonder how Putin and the Middle Easterners would have reacted to an openly gay President. We’ll know someday.

@KNOWITALL we may find out sooner than you think. With Trump’s appointment of Richard Grennell to being the director of all intelligence agencies in this country (which I noticed our liberal jellies have entirely avoided) we may get to see how other countries react very soon.

@seawulf575 Interesting, I had no idea he was gay, not that it matters except for political reactions.

As with the majority of Trump appointments Grennell is another “Acting Director”, Trump’s handy method of avoiding both the vetting and confirmation processes.

Not enough money to continue

Biden is doing really well tonight.

He’s winning states that would go to Trump in the general. I don’t consider that very well.

Trump is doing really well tonight.