Donald Trump is right. Bernie Sanders sold out. But here's what he got.
It sure as hell wasn't for nothing


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
When Donald Trump tweeted after Bernie Sanders' speech that Sanders "totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. All of that work, energy and money, and nothing to show for it! Waste of time!" he was exactly half right. Maybe you'll quibble with the verb, but Sanders did capitulate to Hillary Clinton. But he sure as hell didn't sell out for nothing.
He sold out, and Clinton changed her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a result, probably dooming that trade bill, a signature piece of President Obama's second-term foreign policy agenda.
He sold out, and the Democrats changed their superdelegate rules, binding a much larger percentage of them to the popular vote winners of state contests. At a minimum, this means that establishment candidates will be forced to organize more heavily at a lower level of politics in more states in the future.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He sold out, and he and Clinton are now on board with a college tuition proposal that would satisfy Sanders' criteria, not the one Clinton initially believed in.
He sold out, and the party endorsed what Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) called its "most progressive platform in history."
He sold out, and he received a primetime speaking slot, getting a chance to give what amounted to a concise version of his campaign stump speech, without filters.
He sold out, and his own name will get to be held up for the nomination on Tuesday.
He sold out, and the superdelegates he's attempted to persuade still have the freedom to vote for the candidate of their choice.
He sold out, and his supporters will have greater access to the reins of power inside the party. They will get to determine the rules, going forward.
He sold out, and Hillary Clinton, loathe to commit to hold a potential Supreme Court justice to any standard other than to recognize that the Constitution lives and breathes, now must nominate a justice who specifically opposes a settled law of the land.
The #BernieOrBust delegates who interrupted their own candidate with boos last night, the ones who marched alongside a giant doobie outside the convention, and the few who tried to throw Elizabeth Warren off stride with cries of "We Trusted You!" are like the people who carry phones with cracked screens, refusing to get them replaced, even for free.
In Trump's mind, since Sanders didn't get the private plane his staff had asked the DNC for, perhaps Sanders got nothing. That's because in Trump's mind — as in the mind of the #BernieOrBust folks — not getting everything is the same as getting nothing.
If you watched the convention on television, your day likely began with news footage of contention. The midpoint was, funnily enough, comedian Sarah Silverman's shade throw from the platform, calling the #BernieorBust movement "ridiculous." The peak was Michelle Obama's speech, which was among the most effective arguments I've heard anyone make for Hillary Clinton. And Sanders himself was the denouement. Thanks to judicious directing by the television pool, the crying, defiant Sanders supporters seemed to be energized at the beginning of the day, reproached by the middle, and crying, resigned (perhaps) to his defeat by the end.
The truth, I suspect, is that the media just went fishing for a narrative. Clinton has the support of about 85 percent of Sanders' supporters nationwide already; Trump has the support, after his convention, of about 85 percent of all Republicans who said they voted in their primaries. Both parties are going forward relatively united. How enthusiastic they are relative to their unity is a separate question — and it is one that, uniquely, and perhaps alone, Hillary Clinton will be responsible for answering.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.
-
'America's conservative party has collapsed'
Instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass Published
-
Ratings over democracy
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Consumption rooms: a legal place for illegal drugs?
Talking Point Scotland approves UK's first trial facility where users can take drugs under medical supervision
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Trump surrenders in Georgia election subversion case
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries chosen to succeed Pelosi as leader of House Democrats
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's bid for House speaker may really be in peril
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Are China's protests a real threat for Beijing?
opinion The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web
By Harold Maass Published
-
Who is Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who dined with Trump and Kanye?
Speed Read From Charlottesville to Mar-a-Lago in just five years
By Rafi Schwartz Published
-
Jury convicts Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs of seditious conspiracy in landmark Jan. 6 verdict
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
A look at the White House's festive and homey holiday decor
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
Bob Iger addresses 'Don't Say Gay' bill, says inclusion is part of Disney's values
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published