[JumpCrisscross]

Sanders is 84 years old. He has been a U.S. Senator since 2007, which means he has de facto been in the majority twice. Taxes on the rich fell both times.

He doesn’t put forward serious ideas. He makes headlines to sell books, the source of his millions in personal wealth.

[apothegm]

Being in he majority party doesn’t mean he can force the rest of the party to line up behind him. And even if he could, in 2021-24, the Republican filibuster stonewalled absolutely anything interesting that the Democrats wanted to do anyway.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Being in he majority party doesn’t mean he can force the rest of the party to line up behind him

In two decades in office he never found one moment to pull a Sinema/Manchin?

> the Republican filibuster stonewalled absolutely anything interesting that the Democrats wanted to do anyway

Taxes can be passed via budget reconciliation. The simple truth is policy has never been something Sanders has politically prioritized.

[cyanydeez]

then he's really bad at making money: https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/bernie-sanders...

What a dump asstake.

[JumpCrisscross]

By 2019 it was more than a million [1] and by 2024 over $3 million [2].

To be clear, I make no allegations of corruption. Just that he’s pushed zero policy that aligns with his purported views in the way he’s pushed his book sales.

[1] https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/24/bernie-sa...

[2] https://celebswealths.com/bernie-sanders-net-worth/

[mrkeen]

https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-introduces-bill-to-com...

[JumpCrisscross]

These are called messaging bills if one never caucuses to get it passed.

[mrkeen]

Yes, I too dislike Sanders because others don't vote for his bills.

[JumpCrisscross]

> because others don't vote for his bills

Not how politics works! He puts zero effort into making them passable, or pushing to get them included into omnibuses. He’s there to placate and sell books. If what you want is an influencer in the Senate, he’s your guy.

[phs318u]

> He puts zero effort into making them passable

You mean watering them down so they’re next to useless and full of carved out exceptions for paying “friends”?

[sometimelurker]

isn't a method used by smaller groups with less popular ideas to try to shift the overton window in their favor? if that's the case with Sanders then his goal wouldn't be to make his bills passable, it would be to shift the conversation to something like "hey maybe a sovereign wealth fund isn't a bad idea"