#saiorise-callaghan-blog

[odinsblog]

Hello! I super appreciate this blog! Also so like. If I could ask for some advice if you have time. There’s a lady I know (she’s progressive leaning so like ???). She was like ‘Bernie always makes excuses for his losses’ and it’s like. How does she believe supporting sanitation workers, fuck billionaires, etc but also milquetoast conservadems? Like she honestly doesn’t think Bernie can beat Trump? I have literally zero clue what to think or how to respond to that? Thanks! S

@saoirse-callaghan-blog

Whew boy. I kinda sorta wanna outsource this for someone else to answer, like maybe @politicalsci or maybe @politijohn

BUT.....

Before I do that, I just want to say that when the 2016 primaries rolled around, my aunts were initially going to vote for Clinton, but I talked to them for about 15min outside of the polling place just telling them about Sanders. I even showed them a youtube video of all the stuff Bernie has been right about for the last 30 plus years. My aunts aren’t dumb, and they aren’t easily swayed once they’ve made up their minds ...... but at that point in time, they hadn’t even heard of Bernie Sanders. And I was able to convince them that Sanders was a stronger candidate against Trump and they cast their primary ballots for him.

I’m hesitant to dole out advice here because if you want to convince your friend on a personal level, there’s things about your friend and her personality that only you know - so the convo that you’re going to have might need to take on a whole different flavor than me talking to my black, over 50yrs old aunties.

I’ll be 36 this year and two things stood out to me back in 2016: all of my family and friends who were roughly 35 and under were already Sanders supporters, and they didn’t watch a lot of MSNBC. As that age gap increased, so did their support for “establishment” (aka corporate) Democrats and they were more likely to ... not be news/politics junkies like me, but they definitely were also heavier watchers of MSNBC for their source of news.

(hint: MSNBC is the neoliberal/centrist arm of the DNC, if you don’t know)

Anyway, please forgive me for not taking a minute to scoure through your blog to answer this question, but Idk if you’re white or a NBPoC. If you are, that conversation might look much more different than mine went four years ago. And if your friend is over 35 and financially well off, then there’s another variation. iMho, older people generally seem to have had the hope beaten out of them? And now they’re just happy to “pragmatically” conform to the status quo?

If I could give you one or two pieces of advice, it would be this:

1) try phone banking for Sanders. I did it for the last Democratic primaries, and it gave me sooo much practice for talking extemporaneously to a wide assortment of people from different backgrounds than mine. They give you a script to work from, but after the 30th or 40th call, you basically have it memorized and can start riffing. You need to hear the “No” people without interrupting bc it helps you overall in refuting anti-Sanders arguments you will hear again. Once you’re really comfortable with the calls, maybe let your friend watch you make some calls? It might be an eye opener for her.

2) listen to news sources other than CNN, WNYC and MSNBC. And get them to listen to other outlets. Actual progressive outlets are out there, but they’re a bit harder to find because they aren’t as well funded as their (neo)liberal counterparts. I don’t always agree with them, but I’m currently listening to Brie Joy on Twitter, AOC, Nina Turner, Thom Hartmann, Tim Black, David Packman, and Ben Dixon. (I know I’m leaving out many others, but your ask caught me off guard. Just be sure to include balance - the sources shouldn’t be all male, nor should they be all white). If your friend is like a lot of “progressives,” then she probably watches a ton of MSNBC. If you can’t turn her off from that bad habit, then maybe you can watch with her and point out their constant anti-Sanders bias?

3) make it personal and keep it personal. I don’t mean that you should start name calling or anything, but what I dO mean is this: if you have a personal connection with this person, then you have a better chance of convincing them.

4) Finally, you might just have to accept that you may not be able to change her mind. And that’s okay too. Free country ‘nshit right? Sometimes we need to know when to cut bait.

Anyway, good luck. Please get back with me and let me know how it goes.

Sorry to be so long winded.