The theme of the Democratic Convention is "Unity". In this case, unity against Trump and the GOP. Yet, recent events have shown that unity be out of their reach. This apparent disunity is because of the revelation of the Democratic Party's disenfranchisement torwards its progressive wing, represented by the supporters of Bernie Sanders.
The cracks were already showing before the convention. An earlier article I've written discussed ways that Hillary had withdrawn on her promise of a more progressive platform even before Sanders' misguided endorsement of Clinton. The retreat from fighting for progressive policy and a return to Third Way policies further intensified with Clinton's appointment of Tim Kaine as her Vice President pick. This is because Tim Kaine has expressed support for the TPP as an "upgrade for labour standards"(he was one of the 13 senators that wanted Obama to fast track this act through Congress), as well as pro-fracking positions and support for the Hyde Act. The Hyde Act prohibits federal funding for abortions under Medicaid — the repeal of which is called for in the Democratic Party’s own platform promising unlimited federal funding of abortions. Kaine was also known to support "tough on crime" policies such as Project Exile, which gave long prison sentences to thoseconvicted on illegal firearm ownership. This law has bee accused of targeting the black population and feeding the prison-industrial complex. Thus, it is contradictory for Hillary to promise a leftward shift, yet have a center-right neoliberal VP with policies contradictory to all her promises.
The disunity among the democrats was also present in the defeat of Sanders delegates in the Rules Committee, which struck down measures to end the superdelegate system that had allowed Clinton to solidify her lead. This disunity came from the blocking of Bernie delegates from entering the room, which Bernie supporters suspect to be an attempt to ensure that the superdelegate system continues to function.
But the most definite example of this fragmentation was seen during the Democratic National Convention. This was due to the leaks released by Julian Assange regarding Hillary's emails. On July 22, Assange released 20,000 emails with the goal of bringing down Hillary's nomination. These emails reveal backhanded deals used by the DNC to push Hillary to get the nomination and to ensure Sanders' defeat. One of these emails reveal DNC Chair Debbie Weisserman Schultz privately declared Hillary the presumptive nominee, while questioning Sanders' credentials as a democrat because he was an elected independent when he complained about unfair treatment. Some other emails reveal Politico reporter Ken Vogal allowing the DNC to edit rhetoric in Politico articles, as well as dismissing interviews from Sanders supporters regarding the money laundering scandal where Clinton was supposedly hoarding money into her own campaign, and even trying to use Sanders' own religious beliefs against him.
Yet, rather than confront or accept responsibility for these emails, the DNC chose to ignore its ramifications. Through the revelation of the emails pushed for Debbie Weisserman Schultz to resign under pressure from both Bernie and his supporters, she quickly signed on to become a Honorary Chair for Hillary's campaign. This was followed by the use of Cold War rhetoric blaming the "Russians" for leaking the emails just to help Trump win due to supposedly positive things Putin said about Trump. This is despite Assange's own beliefs there is not much connecting Russia to the leaks.
What are the Consequences of the Leaks?
While it may be hard to tell the consequences of the leaks, if the leaks are not dealt with in the long run, it could fragment the democrat party by alienating the progressive base. This is because it could drive progressives away from the democrat party. For instance, Bernie supporters booed upon the revelation of the emails, even during Bernie's own pressure for his supporters to vote Clinton to oppose Trump. At the same time, Bernie supporters held protests outside the DNC protesting a election preceived to be rigged.
At the same time that the leaks were being released, the Green Party was positioning itself to court Sanders supporters as an alternative to the Democratic Party. Jill Stein for instance blasted Clinton's email as clear indication that the DNC was rigged against Sanders the whole time and called out Sanders for supposedly abandoning his own campaign due to his endorsement, even if it was on perceived pragmatic purposes of stopping Trump. Stein also claimed that this destroyed Hillary's ability to come off as a trustworthy candidate and therefore destroy party unity.
Overall, it is not clear what the ramifications for the emails would entail for Hillary or would it actually alienate the progressive base to the point where Trump could win(through Trump is calling on Russia to release emails that he could use to implicate Clinton, presumably to court disenfranchised Bernie supporters). Yet the recent events seem to point towards democratic disunity which began with Hillary's reverting to neoliberal policies through appointing Tim Kaine as as VP, and truly broke out with the leaks leading to erosion of the democratic base. Therefore, despite all the calls of unity, the convention itself reveals instead a disunited democratic party alienating it's own progressive base.
This is not to say Trump will win because of the corruption of Hillary and the DNC. Hillary could stick to the supposedly "ultra-progressive" platform proposed during the DNC over using the excuse of the platform being non-binding to revert back to neoliberal politics. She could also endorse various Berniecrats running for office at a local or congressional level to signify a degree of commitment to this platform. It might also be a positive step if she either gives DWS a very minimal role in her campaign or dismisses her(through the latter is very unlikely). Yet, if she fails to either rebuild ties with the progressive base(or at least those still open to trusting her), or to supplement the progressive base with new voters, the disunity from the email leaks may have very far-reaching consequences for the 2016 elections.
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