Previews of Donna Brazile’s new book have triggered anger and frustration. But what Brazile (who was interim Democratic National Committee chairwoman after Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned) says is nothing new.

That the primaries were rigged, that Wasserman Schultz was doing Hillary Clinton’s bidding, indeed that the DNC was an extension of the Clinton campaign is precisely what Bernie Sanders supporters suspected all along. Why were only six Clinton-Sanders debates scheduled, at times expected to draw the fewest viewers? Why did the superdelegates disregard the will of the voters?

We knew that the DNC was anything but neutral, but nonetheless we begged the superdelegates to change their vote: We emailed, phoned, Facebooked, tweeted, even wrote personal letters to every superdelegate in the country. At best, our entreaties were ignored. At worst, we received patronizing responses: Clinton was a shoo-in; we should “change our paradigm.”

At the Maine Democratic State Convention, Barney Frank and others were sent to corral us into Hillary’s camp. Even though Bernie delegates were the majority, we were made to feel like uninvited guests. But we had been naïve to believe that the party was holding a fair contest and that it had the nation’s best interests in mind, putting forward the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump.

At the national convention in Philadelphia, we finally understood: There had never been a contest. Clinton had been chosen in advance. The primaries had been a sham.

Donna Brazile has revealed what Berners knew all along. And now that it’s out in the open, the DNC and the Maine Democratic Party must apologize to Bernie supporters for holding sham primaries, for insulting us, for disregarding our will and for forcing upon the American people a deeply flawed, totally inappropriate candidate for the anti-establishment environment of the 2016 elections. Without these apologies, the Democratic Party will continue its death rattle, heading into oblivion.

Jura Avizienis

Portland

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