She would have won even if the DNC didn't attempt to cheat.
But they did stack the cards against him in different ways, and he had no obligation to fall into line when she was out there campaigning telling her base "I won't fight for you, tamper your expectations"
It's easy for Hillary and establishment democrats to blame Bernie but it's not the reality, even if Bernie fell in line when you think he should have would that have helped her beat Trump? There are two major factors that I see playing into Trump winning him campaigning directly to union workers regarding trade when Hillary supported very unpopular trade deals and Comey doing his last minute announcement of a bull shit investigation into her when Trump was the one actually under investigation.
The biggest impact Bernie had on the race was simply by being in there and actually saying the things people have been wanting for years instead of being a republican lite. Him leaving earlier wouldn't have changed anything imo.
Well put, and agreed. The idea that Bernie not "coming to heel" fast enough somehow cost her the race is fucking laughable. Her own stupidity in ignoring blue collar and rust belt workers and the Comey hit job (which was just the climax of the larger Putin hit job) was what really sank her campaign. I'd feel bad for her, if she wasn't so damn hard to feel bad for.