Yep, look at the 72 playbook, they knew Nixon at the point was unbeatable, so they threw out McGovern, who was expendable.
Perhaps even then the Rats knew they could “get” Nixon in his second term, and rebuild in the meantime. Then in 76, you had a completely new person on the scene in Jimmy Carter who won.
Correct. One other thing I forgot is that AOC and most of the SQUAD endorsed Bernie. I can totally see AOC get a bullhorn and stand on top of a car basically calling for rioting after someone else wins the brokered convention not named Bernie. The DNC needs to figure how to control them before they venture into this possible endeavor