If progressive candidates can’t win the primary, they can’t win the general

Nah, the DNC has a million tools to control the primary, from not announcing winners to banning mail-in voting during a pandemic to giving debate questions to their preferred candidate to the way questions are framed.

We know this because they've done all hat and more.

But even if they didnt ratfuck progressives, the primary system gives undue importance to electorally irrelevant states. There was no way South Carolina was going to vote blue, but it largely decided it in 2024.

Bernie would have won in 2016, and would have trounced Trump in 2020 instead of Biden scraping by the skin of his ass, entirely because low-information believed democrats support free healthcare, not rounding up their neighbors to ICE camps, woman's healthcare, etc, who were then disillusioned.