Josh Marshall sums up the state of the Sanders campaign pretty well. Marshall especially feels that this current toxicity is coming from Sanders - as opposed to those who blame Jeff Weaver.
Whatever the source, after the Nevada incident and Sanders' refusal to tone down the rhetoric, there is a growing backlash, especially among left-leaning Democrats. Plenty of people I know who said, "I support Sanders/I voted for Sanders, but I'm really OK with Clinton and desperately want to win in November" are now saying, "Screw Sanders."
Sanders is not a Democrat. Never has been. That is integral to his appeal. But that means he was never going to win the Superdelegates. Now, he's both pitching a strategy that relies on the Superdelegates, all the while shitting all over the party that they represent.
Sanders ran originally on an issue agenda. His campaign has now collapsed into an ego-filled squid cloud of butthurt. Any credibility and sympathy he had from people like me evaporated a while ago, but now he's alienating his softer supporters.
What hill (pardon the pun) is Sanders will to die on? What are the one or two issues that he needs to insist make it into the party platform? Because that's all he's got right now.
If I were advising Sanders, I'd demand a substantial reduction in superdelegates and more primaries rather than caucuses. I'd demand a plank on the minimum wage and maybe a public option. But those latter two he was going to get anyway.
But Sanders pushes this much further and he won't get anything.
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