 It happened Bernie Sanders has officially suspended his 2020 campaign and it's not like this is surprising But it's still It still feels surreal because this time it really felt like we were going to win We were this close and then everything changed in a matter of days and Bernie's campaign just never adapted to the new reality After Super Tuesday now, I will just say obviously I disagree with his decision to suspend his campaign Because by doing this now suspending this early He's handing over all of his leverage to Joe Biden and he will be remaining on the ballot So you can still technically vote for him I plan on doing so when Oregon holds their primary, but at this point in time, you know He can't extract anything from the Democratic Party Because he dropped out so I disagree with this decision, but I understand Bernie Sanders has fought long and hard. He ran not once but twice and I have no doubt That this is literally the last thing that he wants to be doing now So, you know, it's time for us to carry the torch, you know He created this movement. He gave us this movement. He woke up an entire generation of people and now it's on us to move forward But I know that a lot of people are really, you know doom and gloom today and I am 100% with you Let me just say It's okay to be salty I felt a lot better admittedly when I posted a bunch of snake emojis underneath Elizabeth Warren's tweet and rat emojis under Pete Buttigieg's tweet, you know people Responded asking me Mike. What's this gonna accomplish? The answer is nothing. It just felt really good to do that So let me have the snake and rat emojis, okay for this one day, maybe this one last time Let me post snake and rat emojis underneath Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg and you should too if that makes you feel better But look It's it's okay to be down. It's perfectly reasonable to mourn the death of a campaign because this hurts worse the second time because you know going into this In attempt number two you you have a lot more experience, right? We've earned a lot more XP and It felt like we knew more about what we were doing And I think it's important and healthy for us to kind of reevaluate the campaign Figure out what we did right what we did wrong what we could have controlled that was within the realm of our control Figure out what external factors ultimately led to the demise of Bernie Sanders campaign I believe that there are a lot of external things that were out of our control like People talk about maybe winning over the media next time you will never win over the media You will never win over the Democratic Party establishment So I don't think that those are things that are within our control But in terms of voter outreach that is something that we can control and since you know, we couldn't win over older voters And Bernie Sanders didn't win over older black voters in particular in South Carolina I think that is something that we have to grapple with figure out what we did wrong and Learn how to fix that going forward because it's not like I'm not willing to just chalk this up to a generational divide Sure, that's part of it, but we've got to wake people up and I'm not going to Hyper focus on electoral politics going forward My number one priority right now is to wake people up wake the working class up and let them realize that We call the 1% the 1% because they're only 1% of the population So isn't it outrageous that they get to dictate all of the policies that are passed in this country and you have zero say now? Isn't that a little outrageous So my goal is to wake people up going forward and let them know that capitalism is killing them The reason why they are miserable the reason why they have to work until they die and We'll never be able to retire and you spend almost every waking minute Thinking about your job in this abusive employer employee relationship is because of capitalism and not enough people Realized that they are valuable. I mean we saw that a majority of voters Supported Medicare for all and every single primary that took place so far and they still voted for Joe Biden So they don't believe that their lives are valuable enough To where they're demanding Medicare for all yet. They want it, but they're not willing to demand it Otherwise, they wouldn't have voted for Joe Biden. So going forward we have to you know look at our strategy with regard to electoral politics and really really focus hard on organizing externally on Trying to get people to realize their worth and the immense amount of power that they have in the society and Try to foster some sort of general strike. I think that there's a lot of things to look at We have to be introspective. We can't afford to be you know Arrogant and say that we did everything right because I don't believe we did do everything, right? I think there's a lot that we did Wrong, but there's a lot that we did right and there's a lot that was out of our control So, you know, I think that it's it's healthy for us and necessary for us to you know Look at what we could have done, right? But a lot of people currently are thinking about What do we do going forward and that's a really good question, you know, you kind of see a Plethora of different answers and I genuinely I don't know what the answer is. I don't necessarily think there's any one Fix all solution. I think you've got to have a kitchen sink approach And that's always kind of been my philosophy a lot of people want to focus on, you know, ranked-choice voting so we can build up a really Credible and electorally viable third-party. I'm with you a hundred and ten percent a lot of people think that we still have to Reform the Democratic Party as hard as that may be I'm with you too. A lot of people think we should just ignore electoral politics and Focus on organizing. I'm with you, too I'm not trying to sound like a fan sitter I'm just saying that whatever the movement chooses to do I'm gonna support that decision because whenever a large group millions of people come together There is potential for change if they actually recognize their value. So organizing is really important for me. I am just going to focus really really heavily on educating people about how capitalism is Going to kill all of us if we don't kill capitalism first and I'm not saying that to be hyperbolic I mean The planet is not going to be habitable if we continue on this current trajectory With unfettered global capitalism. So if we don't put an end to that and wake people up really quick The species won't survive now I think I'm more optimistic than that at the end of the day in spite of the fact that I have admittedly been you know suffering through a lot of depression lately and that's not just because of the 2020 race that's not just because of COVID-19 That's because of personal issues that I'm dealing with myself that I will recover from it just takes time But I am optimistic at the end of the day and I think that at some point in time I'm gonna return to my original optimistic state But you know, I I'm I'm a little bit more weathered now a little rougher around the edges Maybe even a little bit more toxic, but guess what? I think that's okay right now because we're angry I'm angry and rightfully so we have a right to be angry and if you're not angry. I don't understand you Genuinely, I don't understand you. I don't understand how you can be satisfied with the current set of circumstances I don't know how you can be satisfied choosing between You know one rapist and the lesser of the two rapists allegedly I just I I don't know how anyone can be Satisfied with that status quo like what a miserable miserable Political system that we have that got us to this point and I don't want you to feel like we're alone in You know this situation Our friends over, you know in the UK. They just had an opportunity to elect Labor and have Jeremy Corbyn be the prime minister and they opted for British Trump So we're not the only ones currently who are suffering There's a lot of people around the world who find themselves in this same predicament Some are better off than us other countries are worse off than us so it's just a matter of taking the time that we need to heal do a little bit of a Self-care as Elizabeth Warren supporters put it and acknowledge that the Democratic Party You know, we don't owe them jack fucking shit. We don't owe them a goddamn thing They have to earn your vote if they want it So regardless if Joe Biden wins or loses in November The outcome has been predetermined by the Democratic Party establishment. We will be the scapegoats We will be blamed. So I'm going to do what I think is important and I don't know what that is currently Admittedly, you know, people have asked Mike. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna support, you know, Howie Hawkins in the Green Party? We'll see Um, I'm gonna take time to mull this all over. I will admit that right now I'm heavily leaning towards not voting and I know that my political science professors would you know, um Think that that's heresy for me to say that but you know to me voting is about Exercising my power or not exercising my power It's about me making my voice heard and currently I just feel like We don't live in a democracy like this is not democracy. We had people Vote in a global pandemic risking their lives. That's voter suppression. I just feel like I Can't complain about how Illegitimate the process is and then legitimate that process by voting now if you want to vote green I may be with you. Um, if you want to vote for Joe Biden for purposes of harm reduction I'm not going to be exercising that strategy, but I respect your decision I don't respect anyone's decision if they're choosing to vote for Donald Trump because I don't believe that burning it all down with Four more years of complete stupidity and you know the risk of war with Iran is in the correct answer So I can't respect your decision. I cannot if you vote for Donald Trump But you know for everyone else who's considering voting the third party voting for Joe Biden if they live in a swing state Not voting. I think that you have to do what's best for you Nothing that I say or do will be able to convince you This is a very personal decision and to all of the people currently who are you know Already screaming like Marcos Melitz is about how if you don't vote for Joe Biden Then Donald Trump is going to fill the next Supreme Court seat I Mean do you honestly think that's gonna convince anyone do you honestly believe that anyone will be more inclined to support Joe Biden if you scream at them the second after Bernie Sanders exits the race the answer is no So at the end of the day like obviously I didn't prepare for this video I just am kind of speaking off the cuff, but look it's a sad day It's depressing and I think that you're allowed to take this day to be salty to Be a little upset But just know that at the end of the day Regardless of what you choose to do Not fighting is not an option for you And I don't know how you want to channel the energy that you have But don't let this moment depress you let it radicalize you I can't credit who said that on Twitter because I don't remember who said it But it was a great great tweet However, you want to mobilize and use your voice as long as you're using it I think that's really crucial currently Um, and I don't know what capacity going forward. I'm going to use my voice, but I know that I will use my voice and it's too at this point, I think try to get people to wake up and realize that they are voting for a system that is literally Killing them. That's capitalism So, um, I Don't know what else to say. I think that there's not really anything to say. I've talked to You know, some of my friends in indie media and I think we've all Come to the consensus that this really fucking sucks Of course, it does but I mean I'm not gonna get on camera and You know tell you that All hope is lost because I don't believe that But I'm also not gonna tell you that everything is going to be just fine because I don't believe that it will be I think Our future is in our hands and that sounds cliche it sounds corny It sounds like a platitude and it is a platitude, but I do think That we can still wield the tremendous amount of power that we have We just have to figure out what the right way of doing that is going to be I think electoral politics has kind of proven to be a dead end because the establishment is still too powerful So going forward we just have to continue to fight and fight for people who don't have voices Fight for people who are homeless fight for people who are non-citizens living in this country Fighting for people who are dying because they don't have health care fight for trans people Who are marginalized and their lives are threatened fight for sex workers? fight for reparations fight for people who Need us to fight for them I think so long as we're fighting Then we can't we can't you know, we can't be down on ourselves But the minute we give up the minute we even contemplate giving up then the establishment wins So they beat us right the establishment beat us But this is I believe a temporary victory, right? Right now you see a lot of people celebrating on Twitter and you see bye-bye Bernie trending because that's a really phenomenal way to win over Bernie Sanders supporters But look at the end of the day I Think that the establishment does know that their time is limited and you know politics as usual It can't possibly continue on in its current form. It's it's unsustainable and if fundamental change doesn't happen Then I think you know if that doesn't happen politically It's going to happen in some other way rather that is you know Some type of political revolution in the sense that everyone rises up and as a general strike and takes to the streets or You know the Democratic and Republican parties collapse and new parties emerge in their place I don't know something's got to give because this current trajectory that we're on it's just not sustainable So I will leave by saying that even though I you know don't agree with Bernie Sanders on everything Strategically, I think he made a lot of mistakes Bernie Sanders is still the motherfucking king of the progressive left and he's not dead He's not going anywhere. He still will be influencing American politics And he has changed and reshaped politics and political discourse in America and he may have lost But he's still changed politics. So what that should tell you is that? Just winning elections alone isn't everything We still can shape American politics externally and maybe internally if that's what you choose But either way Bernie will be there and we'll continue to fight. He started this movement and now, you know The responsibility lies with us To take it forward and to not let it die and to just keep fighting Because we don't have a choice. The only option is to continue fighting in whatever capacity You think will be instrumental in getting us change And I'll leave that there