. I must respectfully dissent. I truly believe that you are grafting a malignant story line onto a phenomenon which is easy to understand and much less toxic than you believe.

. People conjure up the idea of a “Establishment“ as being some type of unitary body. Perhaps they see something like the Communist Party, with a cadre of active workers ascending up in a hierarchy to some kind of Presidium where the decisions are made.

. Think about any organization or group of people. Think of your first grade class. I think about my group of new young assistant district attorneys coming into the district attorney‘s office almost fifty years ago. Over time, people get to know one another. They develop relationships, and friendships. As occurs in any collection of people, there is an “in” group. There are other various cliques and sub groups within the larger group.

. During this process, people develop reputations and people form impressions about the type of person each of the members of the group is. As time passes, these impressions strengthen. If a prominent member is attacked for some reason, people will come to that person’s defense.

. Does that mean that there are no people who have a financial interest in an interlocking network of relationships? Does that mean that an attack on a powerful member of the group won’t be perceived as an attack on the group? No.

. But Joe has been in the public eye for fifty years. I am a lifelong Philadelphian. Joe is from Scranton and represented Delaware. He was on the news almost as much as our local political leaders. He has a compelling personal story. Democrats are in the fight of our lives this year. We are battling a monster,

. When Senator Harris attacked Joe, what she did was absolutely fair. But she was taking down a man every Democrat knew had one of the best chances against a Trump. And she attacked him for a position on busing that many Democrats supported then and now wish everyone would forget.

. People change and grow. When the Congressman endorsed him a few days before the South Carolina primary, he knew what he was doing. No doubt he believed, as do I, that a Sanders nomination would lead to a slaughter. Congressman Clymer acted to save the Biden candidacy — and, hopefully, America.

. He didn’t turn that contest around without help. Hundreds of thousands of Democrats supported Biden over Sanders. They aren’t robots. They are individual Americans each of whom made a choice of whom to support. They are your “establishment.”

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