
The Democratic Party, it seems, ceased being fully democratic well before Donald Trump ever stepped behind a teleprompter. The internal erosion began in the Obama era and became painfully clear in the 2016 primaries, when Sanders ran an insurgent campaign powered by small-dollar donors and grassroots mobilisation. Despite winning multiple states, Sanders found himself outmanoeuvred by a party establishment aligned with Hillary Clinton, aided by unelected superdelegates and a Democratic National Committee (DNC) whose neutrality was seriously in question.