Zak
Zak
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

I agree about maintaining scrutiny of any leaders. However, I think people did not fully appreciate what Jill Stein was trying to do here.

MEDIA EXPOSURE FOR THE GREENS

First of all, her campaign and her party were absolutely starved of media exposure, which is absolutely vital for them to flourish, and by inserting herself in the middle of this Trump victory story she drew a great deal of media coverage to her party, that no doubt helped a lot with recruitment. Remember, a lot of people didn’t know anything about Stein or the Greens. More cameras means more recruits.

TARGETING THE MOTHER LODE — THE SANDERS VOTERS ABUSED BY THE DNC

Secondly, Bernie’s surge of support, and then the harrowing mistreatment his support base received from the Democrats revealed a large base of potential recruits for the Greens — voters who probably had identical political values with the Greens. By acting on behalf of Clinton, Stein was appealing to this specific group of voters who Sanders had roped into the Democratic tent. These people had been brow-beaten into supporting Hillary, and now they were seeing after all their work that Hillary wasn’t even willing to fight for herself! How many of these people were on the brink of abandoning the Democrats at this point? Stein’s recount effort provided an enormous object lesson in the integrity of the Democratic Party vs the Greens in representing the wishes of their subjects. Stein was saying to the Sanders voters — THIS is what it looks like to have a candidate and a party who will REALLY fight for you.

For Stein this was win-win — if Hillary had joined Stein and fought, Stein’s efforts would have won her and the Greens publicity and potential recruits among the Democrats and the Sander-nistas. If Hillary failed to join Stein, then Stein through her efforts would be shaming Hillary in front of her own base — like watching Hillary lose to Stein in a Game of Chicken.

MEDIA EXPOSURE FOR ELECTION TAMPERING

Third, there was of course the larger issue of election integrity as a whole. Her recount effort drew a lot of media attention to the widespread neglect and outright sabotage of the election process most notably by Republican state administrations. Since Hillary was the one who’d lost so narrowly, obviously, Stein would have to mount this effort on Hillary’s behalf to challenge the election result and attract all this media attention. And keep in mind — it wasn’t only a call to monitor our election process — it was also more publicity for the authenticity of the Greens trying to protect our democracy as a whole, beyond simply the question of their own electoral victory.

SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE AT WORK

Fourth, there’s the even larger issue of the Media Narrative and its hold on the Public Mind. Maybe Stein was aware of what would happen, and was staging another Object Lesson for the Public. Remember — throughout the whole campaign we were told over and over that the priority was to Keep Trump Out of the White House. So wasn’t it interesting how that Narrative suddenly changed once the results were in? Stein was giving them all a strong excuse to keep the fight going, and was even offering to do it for them, and suddenly they all turned tail in unison and folded — all of them, Hillary, the DNC, the media who’d been building all this panic about Trump — suddenly they were all saying, “Stop Fighting, Give Up Already! Just Shut Up and Go Home.” Again, in calling their bluff, Jill Stein showed another Emperor with no Clothing.

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    Zak

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    Zak