Electable

[Joshua Bernstein]

(this is set the 23rd of January)

Josh had elected to skip services on this snowiest of days; the weather was frightful, and the news reporters were warning people to remain indoors if they could and to have cars stocked with supplies if they absolutely had to leave their homes.

The attorney had decided that he would be forgiven not attending when safety was at stake, and so instead he had pulled on his robe, piled blankets and Mopsy in his lap, and begun browsing the internet.

He began with the New York Times, which proved to be a mistake.

"What!" He exclaimed when he saw the first paragraph of Paul Krugman's blog. "Mopsy! Can you believe this! If we nominate Bernie then that's an automatic Trump win? Preposterous!"

Mopsy clicked her teeth at her owner, content with the strokes she was receiving and not at all concerned with the affairs of Men.

"This is absurd. Nobody even likes Bloomburg, and Sanders is actually doing well given how much the media's tried to ignore his existence."

Of course, conservative media wasn't having any better luck, given how most of the conservative media establishment was trying to denounce Trump's ascendancy. For once, Josh wished that they would have luck in their endeavor.

"It would be historic if we had a Jewish president," Josh told Mopsy, stroking behind her ears. "Can you imagine? I never thought it would even be possible to have a Jewish nominee, but Bernie is doing so well...it could happen!"

Of course, either of the two nominees would be historic; there had been a lot of conflict about that when Hillary had run against Obama, as well. Was a woman or a black man more historic? But Josh thought that Hillary was too centrist, and he assumed that his candidate's popularity was in large part due to other left-leaning Americans agreeing with him.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean woke before his partner as he often did, both during the week and on weekends. A glance out the window told him that the snow had begun, and, even though this blizzard was to be the rare storm that hit New York and New Jersey worse than Vermont and Massachusetts, the telepath saw no reason to leave the house. He and Josh had done their storm preparations the night before, and, thankfully, they retained heat, water, and electricity.

Sean didn’t wake his partner. Instead, he went about his morning routine of showering, dressing, and going downstairs to make breakfast and brew a pot of coffee. Afterward, he kept the breakfast on a hot plate for whenever the younger man woke, and he went about doing his chores.

Snow might fall outside, but Saturday remained his chore and errand day. With the inability to run errands, not falling behind on his chores grew all the more important.

Sean set about doing the laundry and taking inventory of their non-essential supplies – Josh’s baking ingredients, non-essential medications, cleaning supplies – so that he could buy them during their next trip to the store.

The telepath also decided to make stew for supper that day, since the weather was perfect – chilly and damp – for stew, and he could only make it on the weekends due to its long preparation and simmer time.

However, his partner’s loud exclamations interrupted his work, and, quickly rinsing and drying his hands, he walked to the living room. Settling in the large doorway, he asked, “Are you reading blogs again?”

He had warned Josh not to do so in order to spare his blood pressure before. Unfortunately, political and news blogs were one of his partner’s favorite hobbies.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Did you see what Krugman said about Bernie?!" Josh demanded, glaring at his computer screen. "The nerve!"

Despite his vehement tone he continued to gently stroke his rabbit.

"Mopsy agrees with me," He added, although as he didn't have animal communication powers he had no idea of confirming this.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“No,” Sean admitted. He subscribed to The New York Times, in fact had maintained an out-of-state subscription for the past twenty-five years since he preferred their quality of news reporting and opinion pieces to the local newspapers, and they maintained one of the best crossword puzzles – if not the best puzzle – in the entire nation. However, he kept his use of blogs to a minimum, following only a specific few and never reading the comments.

The telepath crossed the threshold and approached his partner on the sofa. “I’ve been doing chores since I woke up,” he informed the other man with no bite in his voice, although he did want to make the point. There had been no time for reading blogs; he’d checked the crossword over breakfast and then had gone straight to his house chores so as to get a jump on them.

“I’m sure she does.” Sean had no intention of petting the rabbit, as he had no such inclinations. Moreover, Josh had already given her plenty of attention for both of them.

“I assume he’s jumped on the Clinton bandwagon as a pragmatic matter?” They had seen several similar endorsements over the past few weeks and months.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"He thinks that nominating Bernie will inevitably lead to a Trump presidency because...oh."

He trailed off as Sean's statement about chores sunk in. The weekends were when Sean seemed to get most of the housework done. Usually Josh helped (somewhat) after services; the fact that his schedule had gotten off track had led him to forgetting his other Saturday duties.

"Ahhh....already?" He laughed nervously in an effort to stave off feelings of guilt. "I suppose Mopsy and I are going to have to continue our political conversation later then."

By which he meant he should get up and actually help take care of their house.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

“Do explain his reasoning,” Sean encouraged. The telepath wasn’t a policy expert, nor could he ever qualify as a Washington insider, but he had grown up in a house full of Republicans. He was liberal, but his parents hadn’t been, neither was his sister and her husband, and neither were any number of his relatives. He didn’t see eye-to-eye with them on political issues, but he understood how they thought. He knew that they would never vote for Donald Trump, even if he secured the nomination, and he knew that a number of other Republican candidates thought similarly.

Likewise, the telepath couldn’t imagine any group of moderates or liberals voting for Trump, assuming he secured the nomination, if their preferred candidate didn’t become the nominee.

At his partner’s nervous question, Sean nodded and jerked his head back in the direction of the basement and laundry room. “The laundry’s in the dryer. I made breakfast.” Which, presumably, the other man knew, if he’d eaten any. “I started on supper already, because I want to make a nice, hearty stew tonight, and I was going to get started on the vacuuming.”

Since he knew that his partner was awake and thus didn’t have to worry about waking him with the noise.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"He ahhh....he thinks that if Sanders wins the nomination then Bloomberg will run as a third party and split the Democrat vote," Josh explained as he stroked Mopsy's fur. "Which is hogwash, nobody would vote Bloomberg. Ahhh....let me just go put Mopsy back in her hutch and I'll go ahhh...clean...the bathtub...?"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean actually chuckled, although he did so softly and coupled the sound with a single roll of his eyes. “I can’t say I’m surprised. Do you remember the columns from 2008?”

The telepath did. In 2007 and 2008, The New York Times and other Old Guard media outlets had published similar handwringing articles about the danger of voting for Obama, and, briefly, for Kucinich. Despite Sean’s preference for Kucinich during the past several election cycles – all else equal, the tiny Congressman from Ohio (now retired) had essentially no chance of attaining the nomination. Obama had, however, coming out of nowhere to overtake Clinton, and the same news cycle had occurred back then.

The telepath couldn’t say that he felt any joy at the return of the news cycle, even if he likewise experienced no surprise.

“I can’t imagine a single Blue state turning Red for Trump, and I certainly can’t see anyone voting for Bloomberg.” New Yorkers didn’t even like Bloomberg; the twin nails in the coffin to any support the man had were how he had rigged the City election law to allow him a third term, and then how he had doubled-down on police presence during the mass protests after the economic crash, with the revelation that he loaned NYPD officers to banks and corporations as private security, paid for with tax dollars.

Shifting the conversation to more practical matters, Sean said, “How about you dust? That way we can stay in the same room.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

"I was trying to forget 2008," Josh muttered darkly. There had been a great deal of left-wing infighting that he could have done without. Of course, the people who had done the most lecturing on everyone getting along had wanted a centrist establishment candidate who could barely be bothered to support LGBT rights. He considered her stances a personal betrayal, particularly since he had helped elect her (disappointing) husband.

And Sanders...Sanders was essentially Josh's dream candidate. There was very little he could do differently: he could shift to the left on gun control, and he could swear never to use drones. But overall he was exactly what the attorney wanted and hoped for.

"Dusting. Sure."

He picked up Mopsy and carried her to the stairs. "I'll be right back!"

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean held no particular affection for the last Democratic campaign season, although he took comfort in the fact that it had been eight years ago due to the fact that they had had a Democratic president for the past two terms. While the telepath didn’t agree with all of Obama’s policies, and he had not experienced that same hopefulness and idealism that many (mostly younger) liberals experienced during his campaign and first election, he remained proud and slightly awed that they had spent the past eight years under the leadership of a black president. It remained momentous, and, while he had been so young during the Civil Rights Era such that he didn’t remember it vividly, he did remember the reactionary pushback, and he did so quite clearly.

While the telepath and his partner diverged in many areas – religion, culture (although they did so in a complementary way despite their very different cultural backgrounds), the benefits of moderation, the threshold at which a stranger becomes a friend, Hammel’s usefulness and policy, the degree to which telepathy informed one’s personality structure... – they had similar politics. Each made had his own brand of idealism and his own brand of pragmatism, and, as a result, they rarely butted heads politically.

Sean, too, held no particular fondness for Clinton, because she was a centrist and a neoliberal. Moreover, as an upper-middle class white person from the suburbs, he recognized Chappaqua for what it was, and he found that choice telling. He found many of her policies appalling, although he did not consider them a betrayal because he expected nothing else of a centrist neoliberal.

Still, he liked Sanders and agreed with him on most issues, with the exception of gun control. Having lived in Vermont for half his life, he had seen the leftward shift in the state as a whole, and he believed that a sufficient portion of the state supported reasonable gun control measures. Beyond that, he agreed with Sanders on all other domestic policies, and he wanted to see the man put forth his best effort. After all, the telepath voted for him as his Senator every time the man came up for reelection.

Yet, he lacked the same connection with Sanders that Josh did, as they didn’t share a religion or a cultural background. Sometimes, he thought Josh looked at Sanders and saw the type of elder firebrand he hoped to become in fifteen years.

Sean couldn’t fault him for that.

At the announcement, he nodded in agreement and stepped to the side so Josh could leave the room. “I’ll be down here,” he promised.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh kissed Mopsy on the nose before he settled her into her hutch. "We'll spend more time together today, don't you worry," He promised her as he left the room. Rather than immediately return to the living room and Sean he went to fetch a feather duster, a cloth, and dusting spray. Once outfitted he made his way back to Sean.

"If only cleaning up our country's politics were as easy as dusting," He lamented.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

While Josh brought Mopsy upstairs, Sean went to the hall closet to retrieve the vacuum cleaner. He plugged it into one of the wall outlets and gave the cord a gentle tug to make sure that he had a bit of slack in the line as he moved.

“If only,” he agreed with a wistful sigh. The telepath didn’t consider himself cynical; he considered himself pragmatic. He certainly had more faith in the system than some of the younger set he had met, such as Rhea (not that they agreed on any political issue beyond gun control, which he assumed came from her experience as a police officer and a firefighter working with EMS more than anything else). But, after living through Watergate, eight years of Reaganomics, eight years of a thoroughly disappointing and sometimes horrifying Clinton administration – particularly regarding LGBT rights, welfare, and incarceration – eight years of George W. Bush, and now their current situation, where the Republican party appeared to run entirely on spite and jingoism, and still some Democrats wanted to meet them halfway...he could hardly retain any bright-eyed, bushy-tailed optimism about his political system.

With that, he flipped the vacuum’s on switch, and the machine roared to life. Due to the noise, Sean switched to telepathy. The in-fighting is going to get worse after the caucus, you know.

The Iowa caucus was on the horizon, and that always became a circus.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh spritzed dusting spray on the coffee table before wiping it down.

of course. I'm sure that no matter what the results are it will be framed as bad news for Sanders.

Josh wasn't bitter about elections at all and he definitely wasn't partially reliving his own campaign.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean’s powers did not allow him to experience other people’s emotions the way that an empath could. However, he heard Josh’s bitterness loud and clear, and he recognized it from past discussions and past election seasons. He knew how idealistic his partner could be, and he understood that this idealism inevitably caused great disappointment when the system failed to live up to those expectations.

He also knew that his partner readily identified with Sanders, and that he had the same level of hope that many Obama supporters experienced eight years ago.

And, he could heard associated thoughts, about his own campaign for town council. That complicated matters.

The media has its favorites; you know we haven’t had impartial media for a couple of decades.

Whatever claim of impartiality that the Fourth Estate claimed had been lost after 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror. Not that spin didn’t exist before then, as they had seen during the 1990s, but the final nail in the coffin came when Congress enacted the PATRIOT ACT.

We can make popcorn and watch the results come in, he offered to his partner. Though the caucus was still a couple of weeks away, this would give them a plan and a somewhat relaxing environment.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh shook his head as he dusted one of the lamps. "I don't know if I can handle that. I might turn in early that night."

The media had been doing their best to tar Sanders as unelectable, incoherent, too radical and yet not radical enough. He was angry enough with the narrative already; he couldn't imagine what sort of lies and half-truths would be spread once the caucus was underway. He still remembered the racist and underhanded campaign Hillary had run in 2008, and the blatant cheating she had engaged in.

And yet the media still favored her.

He didn't want any part of that.