Senator Bernie Sanders. Yahoo News/Getty.
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is set to launch a 2020 presidential bid. Yahoo News. Though he has not officially announced the bid, many news organizations are reporting that he will do so shortly. Sanders ran a contentious campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016 but was ultimately defeated by Clinton. Sanders has done well in early polling and is one of the more popular politicians in America today.
My Comment:
Hilariously enough, one year ago today I put out a post about Sanders speculating on a 2020 run. Even back then it seemed obvious that Sanders would want another bite at the apple and he seemed like a lock to run in 2020.
That being said, I do want to point out that every report I have seen announcing this has relied on anonymous sources, which of course dramatically increases the chances of this story being fake news. I tend to believe it because everyone thought Sanders was going to run anyways but I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention the fact that media reports based on anonymous sources have had just an awful track record in recent history.
What do I think? I'm no fan of Bernie Sanders. I generally think he is one of the more reasonable voices left in the Democratic Party (which is ironic since he isn't really a Democrat), but that's like saying the guy in the insane asylum who thinks he is Jesus is more sane than the guy that thinks he's an 8 foot giant spider with telepathic powers. It's damning by faint praise when you consider how far the Democratic Party has fallen compared to what it once was. Given the rest of the field that has announced so far I do prefer him to any of the other candidates running on the Democratic ticket.
Why? Listen, I think that Sanders economic policies would be a complete disaster for the United States and probably me personally but that is true for the rest of the candidates as well. But Sanders is more sensible in other areas. Sanders isn't likely to make gun control a priority. By Republican standards, Sanders is a gun grabbing communist but by Democratic standards he's practically a member of the NRA. He's also got a more reasonable, more isolationist, foreign policy. If Sanders is president I don't see any more stupid wars for stupid reasons. I almost expect that the next Democratic president will nuke Russia, either out of revenge for perceived interference in 2016's election or just out of pure racism.
Most importantly though, Sanders isn't part of the "woke" part of the Democratic Party. These are the racist people that drooled at the thought of seeing the Covington Catholic boys getting doxxed, harassed and even assaulted. The intersectional feminist/activist/racist part of the Democratic Party would be an absolute disaster for America if they ever gain power. They openly hate white people, lower class people and even Jewish people now, and are even turning on gay men. Almost any alternative is better then them, up to and including actual Communists and Nazis.
Sanders is, of course, not one of those people. He did try to act "woke" during the primaries but you could see that his heart wasn't in it. Sanders is much more of an old school leftist who sees things in terms of economic class, not intersectionality and oppression. He should be looking at social class but that's true for pretty much everyone in America (I will have a post up about this someday). I can say for certain that if he does become president he will not be after vindictiveness and revenge but will instead be going for "economic justice", which will of course destroy the economy but at least won't be racist. And I also think that if Sanders were to win, he wouldn't try to destroy Donald Trump and his family, just out of spite.
What are Sanders chances? I am not sure. On the one hand he's got a ton of supporters, a good organization built up and near universal name recognition. His supporters love him and even most Republicans give him some measure of respect. I think if he had been the candidate in 2016 instead of Hillary Clinton there was a decent chance of him winning it all, and I think he will be one of the most supported candidates in 2020. If the GOP primary had been decided in 2016 I probably would have voted for him against Hillary Clinton and will likely do so in 2020 assuming Trump doesn't have a primary challenge. I wouldn't vote for him for president but he is a a better choice than everyone else with only Tulsi Gabarrd coming close (her foreign policy is good but she is horrible on gun rights)
That being said the Democratic Party will never take him, even if it means another four years of President Trump. The other two factions in the in the Democratic Party want nothing to do with him. The neoliberal establishment still haven't forgiven him for running against their golden girl, Hillary Clinton and they hate his economic and foreign policy, so much so that they out and out cheated him out of the nomination by all kinds of nefarious means. They also hate him for not being an official member of the establishment and never actually joining the Democratic Party, despite caucusing with them.
But an even bigger threat is the "woke" wing of the party. They hate Bernie Sanders because of the color of his skin and increasingly because of the fact that he is Jewish. They also have tried to smear him as some kind of sexual harasser because some people that worked for his campaign complained of sexual harassment. Though I haven't looked closely at those allegations, it reminds me of the old "BernieBro" slander that tried to paint his supporters as a bunch of rowdy frat boys that like to do nothing but oppress women. As far as the "woke" section of the party is concerned, Sanders is evil.
That leaves the more reasonable people still in the Democratic Party out of luck as it is almost certain that the Democratic Party will not go with him. They will either go with Joe Biden who appeals to the neoliberals and the economic liberals, or they will pick some kind of minority or woman to run to appeal to the "woke" liberals. That leaves Sanders and his supporters out in the rain and I fully expect that the 2020 primaries will be less about deciding who would be the best president and all about keeping Sanders or any other insurgent candidates from winning.
As for me, I am conflicted. I think out of all the candidates running for President, Sanders has the best chance of beating Trump. I obviously don't want that to happen as I think Trump's doing a good job and a Democratic victory could sweep the house and the Senate as well just because of him winning and his supporters coming out in droves.
On the other hand, out of any of the candidates from the Democratic Party, Sanders is the only one that I don't think will destroy the country, either from their policies or due to civil war, if he is elected. He'd be a bad president but he's one that America could easily survive...
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