Both Bernie and Hillary supporters pissing me off.

[Aegon]

The division between Bernie and Hillary supporters is no longer about the specific candidates. It's about the Democratic establishment vs ACTUAL liberals. The current Democratic establishment is incapable of defeating Republicans and Trump because they are no more than spineless, uninspiring neoliberals. It's not enough for them to "not be Trump" like they thought would work in November. They need to lay out a progressive platform and appeal to Trump's base the same way Sanders did. For example, what are Dems doing about healthcare? They need to formulate their own improvements on the ACA and show the American people what could be if they win more seats in 2018. Simply going against the awful Republican bill will do nothing. Bernie has created his own legislation for people to get behind, Medicare For All. What has Schumer, Pelosi, etc done? Jackshit

So no, there can be no unity until Democrats wake up and realize what they need to do. That's what these arguments are about.

You Dems need a message. They don't have one. As you said, it's not enough for them to "not be Trump". Trash the progressive platform crap. It cost the Dems the presidential election and it cost the Dems the special elections. All over the country the democrats are losing state and local elections as well. The Dems lost the white male blue collar working class in the rust belt and coal states. These were voters who hadn't voted for a Republican President in thirty plus years. Those voters blamed the Dems for their factories and mines shutting down to please the environmentalists, for imposing more federal regulations, and watching their jobs move to other countries. Trump came along and promised to bring those jobs back. He okayed the Keystone pipeline and eased epa restrictions, to name a few. If the Dems want to win future elections they better figure out a good message to win back their once largest and loyal base, the white male blue collar working class.

Here's the problem with that though; they're wrong. Those industries are disappearing and it's not because of too many regulations or environmentalism. The world is moving on. Instead of latching on to dying industries like coal we need to look to the future and train them for rising industries. Trump can SAY whatever he wants, but he won't be able to do what he said he would. Nobody can.

As for the "progressive platform", we're talking about different things I think. Hillary's platform was not progressive. I promise you that Bernie Sanders platform would have appealed to the rust belt in the general. He was offering solutions, not just saying he'd bring jobs back. He was what people saw in Trump; an outsider who seemed to genuinely care about the American people's wellbeing. Except he actually had a clue what the fuck he was doing, unlike Trump, who proves how unqualified he was for POTUS almost every single day.

Sanders Finds Common Ground in Trump Country

a town hall in rural McDowell County, West Virginia, on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told a crowd filled with supporters of President Donald Trump that "healthcare is a right"—and was met with cheers.

The town hall was broadcast Monday on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes," and featured discussion on a range of topics: jobs, infrastructure, healthcare, and the opioid crisis, among others.

The warm reception to Sanders' views—that climate change is real, that universal healthcare is a right, and that free higher education is necessary, among others—demonstrated that residents of this county that voted 75 percent for Trump support far more progressive policies than those touted by the president.

"We are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare as a right," Sanders told a coal miner who voted for Trump. "Do you think we should join other countries in guaranteeing healthcare as a right?"

"Yes," the Trump supporter said, and the crowd cheered.

Earlier in that exchange, Sanders also appeared to find common ground on a topic widely seen as unpopular in coal country: climate change. Sanders explained that he believed in climate change—unlike the current administration—but he didn't hold individual coal miners responsible for it, recalling that coal heated his "rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn" when he was a child. "You guys are my heroes," he said.

The senator then called for job creation in infrastructure and renewable energy, to put former coal miners back to work in well-paying jobs that will help mitigate the climate crisis. "We are the richest country in the world," Sanders said. "We can do this." The crowd applauded.
Sanders also advocated for retired miners—many of whom suffer from black lung disease and other ailments from a lifetime of mining coal—to receive the pensions and healthcare benefits currently tied up in Congress. He specifically called out Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who represents voters in coal country, for advocating for coal company executives over their workers.

One audience member—another retired miner—agreed with Sanders' assessment, telling the senator that "I think it's ironic that a senator from the Northeast takes care of my benefits better than someone like Mitch McConnell."

The progressive senator also condemned the Republicans' looming Obamacare replacement as "not healthcare legislation."

Hayes observed during the televised segment, the decline of coal has "decimated" the community, and many were also given a lifeline by the extension of Medicaid under Obamacare. During the presidential campaign, Trump promised the return of those coal jobs and also vowed to improve Americans' healthcare coverage.

And so as the GOP aims to push millions off of healthcare and Trump aggressively deregulates industry, it remains to be seen how the Wall Street-friendly administration will ultimately be received by residents of depressed, rural areas such as McDowell County. Given the overwhelmingly positive reception to Sanders' progressive stances at Sunday's town hall, it looks as though Republicans—as well as West Virginia's conservative Democratic senator Joe Manchin—may have something to worry about.