I know this is a very late response but articulating my response was tricky and I just didn't feel up to it at the time.
That said two things have happened this week that cause me to circle back around to this convo.
A) Clinton went onto Howard Stern and basically red-baited Bernie. She straight up blamed him for 2016' and then implied Russia was backing him. So basically, she attempted to do the same thing to Bernie that she did to Tulsi but in a much more subtle manner.
B) PBS just did a special where they talked about every candidate under the sun EXPECT Bernie Sanders.
It was like watching "manufacturing consent in action,' said Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson.
www.commondreams.org
Similarly, NPR did a story a few weeks back that was quite literally billed as a story about the Top 3 candidates. Bernie was firmly in 2nd or 3rd this story aired - **BUT**, the hosts managed to talk about Biden, Warren, and several other candidates outside the Top 3, without ever once mentioning the words “Bernie” or “Sanders”. Not even a passing mention of him being a candidate at all, let alone the candidate polling 2nd. In a story about the *top 3 candidates...
Which brings me back around to:
These things are directly related. The same media that is doing everything it can to dismiss and ignore Bernie Sanders just like they did in 2016. Meanwhile, they fan the flames about Russia because it's an effective deflection and side show that distract from very real issues that make the 1% look bad. It's McCarthyism and somehow educated liberals don't see it. That somehow? Probably has to do with that being the same demographic that refuses to criticize CNN or MSNBC (much less NPR or PBS) the way they do Fox News.
And by the way, Warren fucked herself with her handling of M4A. I don't necessarily view it as a good thing because she's easily my plan B, but she is nosediving in the polls and Bernie is picking up a lot of those people who jumped ship. A poll today had his him up in CA. His likely up in NH. He was up in Nevada and Colorado before the heart attack and could feasible recover there. Nobody knows what's happening in Iowa or whose supporters will show up.
In other words, this thing is wide open and the media is busy manufacturing consent. All while Bernie continues to crush Trump in head to heads and polling with independents (which is not true of either Warren or Pete).