 think you guys know how I feel about these task forces when Bernie Sanders initially came out with his Joe Biden endorsement and announced the formation of these unity task forces I mean I wasn't very keen on them right I think that it's largely pointless it's not going to lead to anything but I wasn't necessarily of the belief that these task forces could some way be harmful to the left because why would they they're pointless but I actually have kind of changed my mind I think they could actually be harmful because I think it could be a way of placating the left or at least getting us to be silent being less critical of Joe Biden if he is some way able to convince us that we were heard and he adopted some of our policies I don't know if you've ever like had a younger brother or sister or a cousin or a nephew in my case and you really want to play video games and they want to play too but you don't want to let them have a turn so you unplug the controller from the console and you give that to them while you play and you know it seems like they're doing something they think that they're winning but it really it's you this is how the task forces feel to me it feels like you know Joe Biden and Democrats unplugged the controller from the console and they handed it to us and they're trying to make it seem as if we're doing something we're steering we're making a difference but in actuality we're not really gonna make a difference and that's the least of my concerns my concern is that we get duped in the thinking that these helped us and we kind of let our foot off the gas so before I kind of dive into more of my opinion on this we did get some news about the makeup of these task forces and as Bloomberg's Jennifer Epstein points out knew this morning Biden and Sanders roll out the members of the six unity task forces that will offer recommendations to the DNC platform committee and to Biden and on these six task forces there's some good names right these are people who I admire and respect but not all of them so on the climate change committee you have AOC as one of the co-chairs and the other co-chair for whatever reason is John Kerry I don't think anyone on the left cares about what he has to say nonetheless he's a co-chair but you know I like AOC I like that there is Sunrise movements of Varshini Parkash included I think she's a great voice on the criminal justice reform task force you have Stacy Walker on the economic task force you have Stephanie Kelton on the health care task force you have Dr. Abdul al-Sayed along with Pramila Jayapal so I mean these are big names these are people who I respect but notably absent from the list of names is of course Nina Turner Nina Turner is an icon to the progressive left and socialists everywhere we respect her we trust her the fact that she was excluded that really says something and I can't play the clip but in an interview with the breakfast club recently she said she wasn't wanted it was clear to her that she wasn't wanted so these task forces in and of themselves I don't think that they're going to amount to anything but the fact that they wouldn't even include her for a largely symbolic task is it's disgusting it shows you that they really don't think too highly about the progressive left now after this list became public AOC actually responded about her decision to join this task force tweeting after conferring with grassroots activists and climate allies I'm accepting Bernie Sanders nomination to co-chair the climate change unity task force with secretary John Kerry I have always believed that real change happens not with a panel or task force but in everyday people organizing mass movements to demand change yet we should also commit to showing up everywhere every space where there are decisions and formative conversations with movement voices now you can you can kind of hear the reluctance in her voice or see it in her words in these tweets and I don't blame her for her for being reluctant if Bernie Sanders ever asked me he wouldn't to be on one of these task forces but if he asked me I would say no absolutely not because I will not be placated I will not be duped into believing that I'm doing something when in actuality I'm accomplishing nothing now the point of these task forces ostensibly is to basically bring together both wings of the party Joe Biden supporters and Bernie Sanders supporters so they can come up with collective agreement around certain issues you know the economy criminal justice healthcare but I don't know why we're debating these things the Democratic Party has already sided with the progressive left even people who voted for Joe Biden they want Medicare for all this is what the polls showed so these conversations in my view are outdated we already have the policy prescriptions we have solutions to these problems there's no need to discuss it further it's just a matter of will we or will we not be cowards and will we fight for it so that's why I'm against these task forces but when I learned what specifically the Bernie side will be pushing for it led further to my skepticism in these task forces so as politico's Holly Otter being tweeted out among the items Sanders allies will likely be pushing for on the health care task force lowering the Medicare eligibility age to 55 and creating a universal health care insurance program for children so what is the point of having Bernie voices on this task force if they're not going to be pushing for Medicare for all like they support Medicare for all but maybe they feel as if that's not something that is realistic the party won't adopt it so they're pushing for Medicare 55 so we're asking Joe Biden to adopt where the party was two years ago with Hillary Clinton and I guess hoping for some type of souped-up version of the children's health insurance program what is the point of this again there's no point and it's not just that these task forces are pointless even if let's say hypothetically Bernie's wing is able to be successful and convince the Democratic Party to adopt certain things that they want on the platform what good does the platform do parties put out these types of manifestos and largely ignore them do you think that Joe Biden will follow through with whatever the national Democratic Party's platform is no so it's pointless and it could be harmful if these people on these panels are satisfied and they believe that they did something and I say that knowing that you know you have to do whatever you can to get a seat at the table but in 2016 we had the DNC Unity Reform Commissions these were actually conducive to good right we had to bargain it with Hillary Clinton supporters and individuals who Tom Perez appointed so they were at this disadvantage in terms of Bernie delegates versus Hillary delegates but they still managed to fight really hard and get the DNC to adopt some changes so they didn't get rid of superdelegates entirely which they should have but they didn't make a pretty big difference this however is not going to amount to anything and I don't like saying things like this because I don't want people to think that I'm a downer if they're able to influence the task forces then that's good but as I lay out in a tweet earlier this is what I think is going to happen if you're Joe Biden step one you announced Medicare at 60 step to let progressives think they've won when you decide to let them talk you down to Medicare at 55 step three use previous negotiation as example of how you're quote unquote listening to the left and adopted quote unquote their policies i.e. Medicare 55 step four be as shitty as you've always been but be criticized less for it by these progressives because they don't want to quote unquote lose the quote unquote concession that you gave to them and finally step five don't actually lower the Medicare age at all if you're elected so it's a way to placate progressives it's a way to silence some of his biggest critics like AOC and that worries me you should never ever be silent when it comes to what you believe is right and what you believe is wrong however I don't necessarily feel confident that progressives congressional progressives specifically are you know saying everything that they feel about Joe Biden how many of them have spoken out about Terry Bernie hasn't said much and that's really disappointing because these are leaders who I look to for guidance these are people who I thought you know believed in these things and I genuinely do believe that Bernie believes tar read and AOC believes tar read but they don't necessarily want to say anything because they know that they would rock the boat and they don't want to be blamed for Donald Trump getting reelected right so I understand the position that they're in it's a lot of pressure and I don't want to be too down but at the end of the day I want progressives and the left generally speaking to get a lot more savvy be a lot more ruthless and even be a little bit of you know Machiavellian politicians if they have to be because at the end of the day we're fighting for what's good we're on the right side of history and they're on the wrong side of history like it or not there's gonna be a time where the current Democratic Party establishment will be a relic of the past because future generation younger people they side with Bernie Sanders and his progressive policy proposals so it's just a matter of time at this point I feel like we're delaying the inevitable hopefully it's not too late when it comes to issues like climate change but nonetheless who's in power right now they're not gonna be there forever the current power apparatus will at some point go the way of the dodo and a new generation will come and usher in I think hopefully a new era of progressive politics I'm trying to be optimistic but things like this I don't think it's helpful to that long-term goal I just I just I don't because it's trying to get you to think that we have a say we have power we have a seat at the table we have influence when we don't and I think that we have to be realistic about our standing the left-lost the people who we have in Congress are marginalized they're getting steamrolled by Nancy Pelosi and leadership and we can't delude ourselves into thinking they're giving us a seat at the table when this is nothing more than window dressing it's not going to amount to anything so you know I don't necessarily like I don't want to be down on AOC for taking this position you know I think that people would have been angry if she didn't take this position but for me I want the left to really really be strategic and I think that that's one thing that we've lacked we have kind of just rode on our principles right we talk about Medicare for all we're policy focused and that's all we need but we've got to learn how to play politics we've got to learn how to market ourselves and how to create a narrative not a false narrative but we've got to tell people what's going on and that means we have to be a little bit brave people in Congress who are progressive have to call out leadership because if you don't you're gonna get placated you're gonna get steamrolled and nothing will get accomplished so I'm sorry I'm down on these task forces but I genuinely find it insulting because it's like don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining don't you know give me a turd and tell me it's chocolate I know what this is I know when I'm being deceived this is deception and even though these names on you know these task forces are good people I don't want them to be you know used for Joe Biden's disgusting pro-corporate neoliberal agenda and the fact that they wouldn't even include Nina Turner on these symbolic task forces it tells you how little you know they care about the progressive agendas so you know I'm I'm not too keen on these task forces but if Bernie genuinely believes that um they're gonna make a difference um I mean I'll trust him to an extent but I think there's better things he can do to influence Joe Biden if he does believe that Joe Biden is influenceable if that's a word at all uh and I I don't know I don't think that he is I think the best you'd get out of a Joe Biden administration is him replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg but any policies he you know implements they're most likely going to be via executive order which will just be undone by the next republican president and you know we're going to be back to square one so long term we've got to really think through what we do as lefties to increase our bargain in power to make better use of the leverage that we have and we did have leverage and things like this these types of task forces it's not a good use of our time and you know if it were me if I had to say I would encourage all of these well-intentioned good people to boycott these task forces because at the end of the day they're not going to lead to us getting the policies that you want they're just an attempt to pretty obvious attempt I think to satisfy us without doing anything