I voted for Bernie when I lived in Vermont for a couple decades.

Back in New York since 2010 I did all I could to support Bernie in his two runs for President. Oh, the endless discussions with my Hillaryous friends who were bamboozled by a neo-liberal in a skirt.

I watched as the Democratic party twice screwed Bernie. Once by Debbie Wasserman Schultz (currently earning her keep in the Democratic party by trashing Matt Taibbi) and a second time by Barack Obama in back-room dealings to coalesce around the zombie candidate, Joe Biden.

What was most upsetting is how Bernie just bent over, took it, no lube, and supported the party.

At the end, the question that remained for me was whether Bernie just happened to be lacking the gumption or imagination to do more than provide inspiring talk about progressive issues, and just not be somebody who could really take on the corrupt system—or, more cynically— to exist to simply provide talking points for the Democrats, to pull in progressives, knowing full well that after the elections any of these issues that did make it into the White House (as Biden did indeed pull in a few of these carrots) they would be abandoned.

My doubts turned into my verdict after Bernie supported the billions of dollars for the proxy war with Russia.

If he runs now, he will once again be nothing a distraction, a smoke and mirror machine to cover up how elections are really decided in this country.

He’s not getting my vote—and in the circus that is lining up to be president in 2024 there is not one clown that will get me to play the pretend role-playing game of voting that the media (referees at the game) want me to be involved in.

As George W. Bush - comfortably retired war criminal and portrait painter - said: “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”