Rep. Jim Clyburn calls for a halt to the Democratic debates, which is a variant of my prediction of March 2 (Facebook, below). Democratic insiders’ favored candidate is so hopeless that he must be sequestered, as much as possible, from the public. Clyburn argued, before the Tuesday Triple-M threat primaries, that if Biden wins and becomes the “prohibitive” [sic: he means “presumptive”] nominee, then the Democratic Nationa Committe should “shut down” the primary process:

The idea?

To protect himself and his party, Biden must be quarantined.

But not to protect him so much as for fear that
Biden will contaminate the whole process.

My Facebook post:

March 2 at 2:40 PM · 

Democrats now face three active and significant campaigns: Bernie’s, Liz’s, and Joe’s . . . oh, a fourth, too: Mike’s.

Liz is pathetic, unpleasant, and would lose to Trump in any debate. Utter humiliation.

Bernie is a loud grump as well as a puerile and deceptive fanatic, and Trump would clobber him in a debate.

Joe is senescent, and Trump would run circles around him in debate.

Bloomberg, on the other hand, though not a good debater, might have some advantage over Trump: two billionaires duking it out, but only one of them really an impressive business manager — Trump’s a (mere?) branding wizard. Bloomberg’s insults could sting.

But ‘Get it done Mike’ is himself an unpleasant figure, has New York Elitist Jew written all over him, and is an anti-populist who wants to run people’s lives, right down to the Big Gulp level. If Trump can make that stick in a debate, he wins.

So, there is a good chance of NO PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES this autumn.

But Bloomberg is the wild card, and who knows the extent of his proud folly? His staying in the race may throw the whole winnowing-out process out of wack (whack?) and give the nomination to Bernie. 

Now, I suspect Bernie is much less popular than polls SEEM to show, an opposite of the Trump Effect in 2016. Being popular with progressives is no signal of strength, it could be nothing more than a McGovernish trajectory. So Bloomberg trying to ‘buy the nomination’ may give the Democratic Party not only a non-Democrat, but a “democratic socialist’!

This is going to be a fascinating election year. Popcorn sales may go up, anyway.