Bernie Sanders never stopped running for President.

[WeekiWater]

What he has been doing is pretty smart, politically.

He created "fellowships" for media personalities and future campaign staff. He has been holding these people closer to the vest than we've seen historically. This is why the Sanders institute is being shut down. If they didn't it would create conflict as it always has been a part of his four year campaign.

https://www.sandersinstitute.com/about/fellows

Then there is Our Revolution. There is a lot of overlap with The Sanders Institute.

Nina Turner
Claire Sandberg had a falling out with Our Revolution but is now on team Sanders.
Kenneth Pennington was with Our Revolution and is now on the Sanders campaign.
Barry Brendel, Chair of OR NJ is now on team Sanders.

Briahna Joy Gray is now a top person in the Sanders campaign. She has bee working for The Intercept writing disparaging pieces on Harris and Democrats in general while writing glowingly of Sanders. She was just hired but has recently written some really shady opinion pieces on Harris.

https://theintercept.com/staff/briahnagray/

I think someone is going to pick up on how Sanders has been doing this for the last four years and write a piece on it. Many of these people have spent the last four years going after Democrats and asking "honest" questions about possible Democratic contenders. Many are now paid staff and influential people in his campaign. I'm not the only one who has noticed but it isn't being widely discussed. We are talking about groups Sanders started and the Sanders Institute itself.

I don't find any of this to be shocking. He is a career politician and is good at campaigning. He has been dreaming about being President for some time now. One look at the Sanders Institute makes that perfectly clear. This goes much deeper than I've outlined.

[ucrdem]

1. Yes we noticed.

The question is why.

[dalton99a]

5. Same old "If I can't win, I'll make sure everyone loses

except Trump"

[ucrdem]

14. Some of that for sure.

Same with the ACA. It really seems to bother him.

[comradebillyboy]

2. The more I see of Bernie the less I like him.

And the company he keeps is pretty deplorable as well.

[R B Garr]

3. good at "campaigning" or undermining?

Looks like it’s clear who is actually rigging the system,..

[Gothmog]

4. This article made me like sanders even less

I really doubt that sanders will be the nominee. Too many real Democrats have long memories and we will not forgive or forget

[handmade34]

7. I will never forgive

harsh for me... but the world is crashing around us and we need to be serious about getting healthy again... this will never happen with Bernie in the race

[R B Garr]

9. Yup, we don't need this kind of war on Democrats.

Again. There really is no excuse for this again.

[MineralMan]

6. So, when do you think he'll hire Glenn Greenwald?

[WeekiWater]

10. I think Greenwald is a greater asset from the outside. NT

[MineralMan]

12. Do you?

An asset, eh? Well, you got the first three letters right, anyhow.

[NurseJackie]

8. In all that time... you'd think he would have taken a moment to get his TAX RETURNS ready.

WHERE ARE THE TAX RETURNS?

Personally, I think it's time to face facts... He and Jane have NO INTENTION of releasing them. If they were going to release ten years of their FULL tax returns, they would have done so already.

Jane and he want us to imagine that they're shuffling around searching through unmarked shoeboxes of paperwork stored in their attic... only... this is not 1968. Neither he nor Jane are the technological Luddites that they're pretending to be.

There is NO "tweaking" or "adjusting" or "finalizing" or polishing that needs to be done. Fact of the matter is... if those tax returns were good enough for the IRS, then they are good enough to present to the American people.

So, again... where are the TAX RETURNS? What are he and Jane afraid of letting us see?

All I'm saying is that the American people deserve to know where their money comes from, whether taxes were paid properly and promptly, where it's being saved (domestic or offshore), and where/how it's being invested. Yet all we hear is excuse after excuse and delay upon delay. It looks fishy.

It shows a great deal of disrespect to the voters.

[WeekiWater]

11. As usual.

Spot on.

[MineralMan]

13. I imagine there are things in those returns that would be embarrassing.

That's the only reason to withhold them, really. I won't speculate what those things might be, though. I have no idea.

[NurseJackie]

15. It's my opinion that it would be more than embarrassing.

13. I imagine there are things in those returns that would be embarrassing.

It's my opinion that it would be more than embarrassing.

That's the only reason to withhold them, really.

I totally agree. I guess someone figures that if Trump can get away with it, that's the new standard... so that's Bernie and Jane's obvious intention as well.

It's insulting at the amount of disrespect they're showing the the American voters.

[MineralMan]

16. Well, embarrassing can have a number of meanings.

I don't mean it in a "blushing" sort of way, though.

I mean it in a "how am I going to explain that?" sort of way.

I'm thinking awkward sources of miscellaneous income or difficult to understand expenditures used as deductions. That sort of thing. Otherwise, why not just release them in 2016? It's an odd element of this campaign that needs to be understood better, I think. How? He releases them and then explains anything that raises questions. Simple, really...or maybe not. I don't know. Nobody knows, but we need to know.