The Fighting Soul On the Road with Bernie Sanders

I felt like there are a million like postmortem campaign books and profiles and very few people actually know who Bernie Sanders is as famous and as important and as influential as he is and I really feel like that was an important story to tell who is Bernie Sanders what drives him what makes him tick and kind of give people an actual flavor for this person who really did change the course of history

One of the quotes that has gotten some attention was the Obama quote where uh Bernie Obama and I the three of us were in a room together alone in 2018 and Bernie had this meeting with Obama to be like you know I'm thinking about it what do you think he really hadn't decided yet and it was this it was this intriguing moment that you have these two guys both of whom by the way have big egos and in a room together having this conversation and finally Obama kind of turns to Bernie and is like Bernie you're an you're an old testament prophet you like give us a moral voice but prophets don't get to be king and are you willing to like make the changes necessary are you willing to kind of be a broader figure are you willing to reach out to the the small business conservative democrat in the south to be part of your thing are you willing to are you if you want to lead the democratic party are you willing to put on the jersey and that that pressure really did exist on Bernie and he really kind of pushed it aside at every angle

There's the story in the book which is actually pretty remarkable where uh the the Washington Post reports that uh the Russians are supporting Bernie's campaign and like he's being asked about it now here's the thing there's a bunch of like classified intel that Bernie knows because he's a senator also another person had told us they were doing reporting on some some of this and we're like that's not what the briefing said the briefing said right this other the briefing basically said Russia just wants to sow discord discord and and part of that discord has been kind of trolling online and there was some Bernie was subject of some of the Bernie trolls were part of that discord is what which is very different than supporting Bernie right and then he gets asked about it on the tarmac and look he has a moment where he like points at a reporter and says like Washington Post like great friends or something like and it was like it was like there was this reaction among journalists some of whom I really do respect and think are good journalists but they were like this was like the end of the world and and and I was sitting there like I you know I'm trying to be like I have to be somewhat empathetic to this and we do have to kind of work with these people but at the same time it's like that's not really that's like your your biggest thing that Bernie was like Washington Post great friends right there was an incredible freak out over that

There was another media story that I think is also really interesting and important something else that we covered which was the whole Elizabeth Warren accusing Bernie of you know telling her privately that she couldn't win because she's a woman right um and I think that you know first of all you make the case look the only people in the room were Elizabeth Warren Bernie Sanders and Warren's husband um and you know these news outlets were reporting they had like three or four sources for this and you're like there's there were only three people in the room and obviously one of them is denying your reporting so what are you doing here but you also make the case that you know there were people on the campaign team who were fairly skeptical of Warren's abilities as a candidate I would say those people were more or less proved correct but Bernie was not one of them that he was consistently you guys don't underestimate she's very smart she's very you know capable on this I've known her for two decades I've like worked with her she's she's so smart and capable don't like don't underestimate her like and it was so weird to me the whole thing as I point out because look I've had hundreds of dinners with Bernie I've talked about every subject known to man and I just I know how he thinks about things and nothing ever even came close to what the Elizabeth Warren thing so it kind of shocked me in that like who knows what happened in the room but if he was going to say that we probably would like I know his opinion on it and it just was so far away from anything he ever said

I think there was a lot of moments in the campaign especially in April in the spring and the summer we were very much on this Bernie beach Trump narrative we put out polling we did tours of the Midwest we did things like the Fox News town hall where which was to kind of prove hey Bernie can go in front of these audiences and win them uh we were doing a bunch of things like that we were kind of constantly messaging but the thing we quickly realized was the only thing that's going to prove to voters that that Bernie can win is by winning which is why it was so important to kind of win Iowa win New Hampshire blowout Nevada the the principal theory the the problem we always saw was Joe Biden was kind of unique among other candidates and if we got to Super Tuesday one on one with Joe Biden it it was not going to be a good Super Tuesday because there's a certain segment of the party who is going to who's open to Bernie but if it's the two of them one on one they're going Biden because of Obama because oh you know he's been vice president he's tested he's the guy and that was a that was a brick wall we did run into I I don't know what could have been done other other than and I think this is important I talk in the book about kind of the moments Bernie pulled his punches on Biden yes and the reason if like the the problem isn't fixing the problem in February I talk about in the book kind of in September when the campaign staff was very much like you have to go at Biden and Bernie projected that notion

I felt like there are a million like postmortem campaign books and profiles and very few people actually know who Bernie Sanders is as famous and as important and as influential as he is and I really feel like that was an important story to tell who is Bernie Sanders what drives him what makes him tick and kind of give people an actual flavor for this person who really did change the course of history.

One of the quotes that has gotten some attention was the Obama quote where uh Bernie Obama and I the three of us were in a room together alone in 2018 and Bernie had this meeting with Obama to be like you know I'm thinking about it what do you think he really hadn't decided yet and it was this it was this intriguing moment that you have these two guys both of whom by the way have big egos and in a room together having this conversation and finally Obama kind of turns to Bernie and is like Bernie you're an you're an old testament prophet you like give us a moral voice but prophets don't get to be king and are you willing to like make the changes necessary are you willing to kind of be a broader figure are you willing to reach out to the the small business conservative democrat in the south to be part of your thing are you willing to are you if you want to lead the democratic party are you willing to put on the jersey and that that pressure really did exist on Bernie and he really kind of pushed it aside at every angle.

The Washington Post reports that uh the Russians are supporting Bernie's campaign and like he's being asked about it now here's the thing there's a bunch of like classified intel that Bernie knows because he's a senator also another person had told us they were doing reporting on some some of this and we're like that's not what the briefing said the briefing said right this other the briefing basically said Russia just wants to sow discord discord and and part of that discord has been kind of trolling online and there was some Bernie was subject of some of the Bernie trolls were part of that discord is what which is very different than supporting Bernie right and then he gets asked about it on the tarmac and look he has a moment where he like points at a reporter and says like Washington Post like great friends or something like and it was like it was like there was this reaction among journalists some of whom I really do respect and think are good journalists but they were like this was like the end of the world and and and I was sitting there like I you know I'm trying to be like I have to be somewhat empathetic to this and we do have to kind of work with these people but at the same time it's like that's not really that's like your your biggest thing that Bernie was like Washington Post great friends right there was an incredible freak out over that.

Elizabeth Warren accusing Bernie of you know telling her privately that she couldn't win because she's a woman right um and I think that you know first of all you make the case look the only people in the room were Elizabeth Warren Bernie Sanders and Warren's husband um and you know these news outlets were reporting they had like three or four sources for this and you're like there's there were only three people in the room and obviously one of them is denying your reporting so what are you doing here but you also make the case that you know there were people on the campaign team who were fairly skeptical of Warren's abilities as a candidate I would say those people were more or less proved correct but Bernie was not one of them that he was consistently you guys don't underestimate she's very smart she's very you know capable on this I've known her for two decades I've like worked with her she's she's so smart and capable don't like don't underestimate her like and it was so weird to me the whole thing as I point out because look I've had hundreds of dinners with Bernie I've talked about every subject known to man and I just I know how he thinks about things and nothing ever even came close to what the Elizabeth Warren thing so it kind of shocked me in that like who knows what happened in the room but if he was going to say that we probably would like I know his opinion on it and it just was so far away from anything he ever said.

The solving the Super Tuesday problem isn't a February problem it's a September right much issue and the question is do you just try to take out Biden then so he's not a factor on Super Tuesday because you don't have the same problems like if it's Bernie Buddha Jidge on Super Tuesday it's a very different formula.

I felt like there are a million like postmortem campaign books and profiles and very few people actually know who Bernie Sanders is as famous and as important and as influential as he is and I really feel like that was an important story to tell who is Bernie Sanders what drives him what makes him tick and kind of give people an actual flavor for this person who really did change the course of history.

One of the quotes that has gotten some attention was the Obama quote where uh Bernie Obama and I the three of us were in a room together alone in 2018 and Bernie had this meeting with Obama to be like you know I'm thinking about it what do you think he really hadn't decided yet and it was this it was this intriguing moment that you have these two guys both of whom by the way have big egos and in a room together having this conversation and finally Obama kind of turns to Bernie and is like Bernie you're an you're an old testament prophet you like give us a moral voice but prophets don't get to be king and are you willing to like make the changes necessary are you willing to kind of be a broader figure are you willing to reach out to the the small business conservative democrat in the south to be part of your thing are you willing to are you if you want to lead the democratic party are you willing to put on the jersey and that that pressure really did exist on Bernie and he really kind of pushed it aside at every angle.

The Washington Post reports that uh the Russians are supporting Bernie's campaign...there's a bunch of like classified intel that Bernie knows because he's a senator also another person had told us they were doing reporting on some some of this and we're like that's not what the briefing said the briefing said right this other the briefing basically said Russia just wants to sow discord discord and and part of that discord has been kind of trolling online and there was some Bernie was subject of some of the Bernie trolls were part of that discord is what which is very different than supporting Bernie right and then he gets asked about it on the tarmac and look he has a moment where he like points at a reporter and says like Washington Post like great friends or something like and it was like it was like there was this reaction among journalists some of whom I really do respect and think are good journalists but they were like this was like the end of the world and and and I was sitting there like I you know I'm trying to be like I have to be somewhat empathetic to this and we do have to kind of work with these people but at the same time it's like that's not really that's like your your biggest thing that Bernie was like Washington Post great friends right there was an incredible freak out over that.

Elizabeth Warren accusing Bernie of you know telling her privately that she couldn't win because she's a woman...and I think that you know first of all you make the case look the only people in the room were Elizabeth Warren Bernie Sanders and Warren's husband um and you know these news outlets were reporting they had like three or four sources for this and you're like there's there were only three people in the room and obviously one of them is denying your reporting so what are you doing here but you also make the case that you know there were people on the campaign team who were fairly skeptical of Warren's abilities as a candidate I would say those people were more or less proved correct but Bernie was not one of them that he was consistently you guys don't underestimate she's very smart she's very you know capable on this I've known her for two decades I've like worked with her she's she's so smart and capable don't like don't underestimate her like and it was so weird to me the whole thing as I point out because look I've had hundreds of dinners with Bernie I've talked about every subject known to man and I just I know how he thinks about things and nothing ever even came close to what the Elizabeth Warren thing so it kind of shocked me in that like who knows what happened in the room but if he was going to say that we probably would like I know his opinion on it and it just was so far away from anything he ever said.

The solving the Super Tuesday problem isn't a February problem it's a September right munch issue and the question is do you just try to take out Biden then so he's not a factor on Super Tuesday because you don't have the same problems like if it's Bernie Buddha Jidge on Super Tuesday it's a very different formula.