There seems to be an air of negativity concerning the “results so far” (currently resting @ 75% with Buttigieg in first) of the Iowa Caucus. Politico had the audacity to run this pile of dog shit, describing Bernie as “dispirited” at his “would-be victory party”, an article that reads more like it was written by Regina George from the movie Mean Girls than a seasoned reporter. Or this gem from the Post and Carrier that claims “A group of prominent Upstate Republicans is preparing to launch a wide-scale effort this week to encourage GOP voters across South Carolina to vote for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders” because they believe he “presents the weakest general election threat“. And there seems to be a bad vibe among Bernie supporters (or the dreaded BERNIE BROS as the media calls us) as theories of malice, treachery and questionable conflicts of interest on the part of certain candidates have gotten thrown around.

Now listen, I get it, it might be just a little fishy that this app at the core of all this mess, ironically called “Shadow Inc.” (I can’t make that up) was designed by a firm that has worked closely with Hillary Clinton’s campaign. And that same app that the Iowa Democratic Party paid about $60,000 for, also received a sum of $42,500 from good ol’ Mayor Pete’s campaign who ironically seems to be on his way to “winning” the Iowa Caucus. Poor handsy Joe Biden only paid $1,225 which only seems worth about 4th place.

Far be it from me to quickly throw on my tin foil hat and yell out “CONSPIRACY!” I’m not feeling up for doing so this time. The truth is I may be the only person that is happy, excited and absolutely optimistic about the results as we know them. Here’s a few reasons why you should be optimistic too:

The Fall of Joe Biden

Let’s not forget that Mayor Pete has been either on a slight decline or a plateau leading up Iowa, depending on what poll you looked at. Biden has pretty much been on the same trajectory. Besides Bloomberg the Oligarch buying his rapid ascension into the polls from nothing, the only person that has been moving on up like the Jeffersons has been Bernie. No one has a more diverse base as Sander’s campaign, yet the media insist that the “black vote” belongs to Biden. And this bullshit argument of electibility – this idea that really comes down to how much mass appeal a candidate has – didn’t mean a thing when it actually came time for voters to turn out because……. no one came out for Biden. As a matter of fact, both Pete and Bernie individually have doubled the amount of votes Biden has received.

I believe we will see the illusion of the Biden candidacy fade away. If Iowa taught us anything, it’s that just because people think someone can beat Trump doesn’t mean they would actively support that candidate. And, even better, poll numbers don’t truly demonstrate how active a campaigns base is. Sanders has built a grassroots campaign that emphasizes action, which has been effective in outsmarting pollsters and outperforming status quo candidates such as Biden or, dare I say, Hilary.

Can Mayor Pete Repeat Iowa?

The whole point behind the Iowa Caucus is to build media momentum behind the elections and inevitably the candidate that wins the state. I can’t take that away from Mayor Pete – he performed surprisingly well in Iowa. Some would say it’s not much of a surprise since Iowa is 90% white, and Mayor Pete can’t seem to escape being the whitest kid we know, but either way, he seemed to defy a lot of odds, and I always must give props where they are due. But, can he continue this momentum? Well he seems confident that he can. He was so confident that he announced victory in Iowa long before any results whatsoever were released. Well sorry #MayorCheat but the correct answer is – probably not. Iowa may successfully have allowed him a victory lap and booming media coverage, and if the current standings remain to the end with Buttigieg taking the lead, that will only continue. But his abysmal numbers with minorities may be the doom of his campaign, especially in more diverse states, such as New Hampshire which many are speculating will be no contest for a Sanders win next week.

Bernie Is Winning the Popular Vote

While the numbers continue to roll in, one thing is certain – Sanders is outperforming Mayor Pete in terms of raw votes. Now this may change when we finally find out the FINAL results……. at the end of the common era, but I can’t imagine Pete so far surpassing Sanders in votes that it manages to effectively sway the country’s perception of either candidates in a drastic way. My point is that a win for Mayor Pete is not a lose for Sanders, at least not in the same vein that a Biden win would have been. A Biden win would have further cemented the narrative that has been forced on us by the media and the DNC that HE will be our candidate that will take Trump on, but a Pete win doesn’t have that same emphasis. All it really tells us is that he’s down where there’s no brown (damn, that’s clever).

But let’s imagine Bernie winning the popular vote in the end – of course the media will downplay it by pointing out that Iowa is actually insignificant in the grand scheme since there’s really not that many delegates to give out, and if Mayor Pete is still declared winner of Iowa as far as delegate numbers go as he has been, this will only be exacerbated further. But make no mistake that once again the people of Iowa have spoken – and the peoples’ choice is Bernie Sanders.

I know it can feel like there’s nefarious parties at play and weird “Shadow” shit at play here, but when you hear people talking negatively on Bernie’s performance, especially in light of not having nearly all the results, it is their attempt to control the narrative.

Whoever actually WON the Iowa Caucus was stripped of their big victory speech and the media boost the would have ensued, allowing anyone to step in to create their own narrative. Either we can fall for it and react, or push the truth. In reality, EVERYONE should be bothered by how this is all playing out. But even in light of the chaos, there is only one candidate that has proven to either meet or exceed expectations and that is Sen. Bernard Sanders.

Iowa is and should be discussed as a huge win for the Sanders campaign. It’s about time us supporters start acting like it.