Tom Perez Victory Drives The Democratic Party Further Apart

The election of a new DNC Chairman was supposed to help put the divisiveness of 2016 behind Democrats. Yet Tom Perez’s victory yesterday over Keith Ellison only underscored how far apart the different Democratic factions are. Led by Bernie Sanders, the far-left is pissed off at Perez’s victory because they see it as yet another example of the Democratic establishment’s power to rig the system.

In a sign that Sanders still does not trust the Democratic establishment he told CNN today that the DNC would not receive his extremely valuable email list:

Sanders is not the only liberal unhappy with yesterday’s result. Many of his supporters view it as just the latest election rigged by the DNC establishment:

• Our Revolution said Perez’s victory was allowed to happen because “elements of the Democratic Party are locked in complacency.”
• Jim Dean, the Chair of Democracy for America, called the results “incredibly disappointing,” “another missed opportunity,” which showed “how out of touch party insiders are with the grassroots movement.”
• Dan Cantor, National Director Of The Working Families Party, said that Perez’s victory was “missed opportunity” and that the “vote may sting for progressives, particularly young people.”
• Claire Sandberg, co-founder of WeWillReplaceYou which has threatened to primary Democrats blasted Perez’s victory because he represents the “same establishment politics that could not stop Trump will not take back Congress.”
• Adam Green, Co-Founder Of The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, another Ellison supporter, raised the possibility that Perez’s victory due to unfair DNC rules.
• National Nurses United Co-president Jean Ross said she was “bitterly disappointed” by Ellison’s lose to Perez.

Perez’s first time doing the Sunday shows as DNC Chairman will do nothing to appeal to the above list of very disappointed Democrats. It’s probably fair to say that these are people who subscribe to the “Bernie would have won” theory. Yet speaking on ABC’s This Week, Perez actually said Hillary Clinton should run in 2020 if she wants to:

Hillary boosterism is going to go over about as well as capitalism with Sanders supporters. The Democratic civil war is about to go into overdrive now that the grassroots has seen Democratic insiders can still keep them out of power.