The news outlets are reporting that Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls. He seems to be leading in Iowa and in New Hampshire. It is still too early to know if he will be the Democrat nominee in November.
However, it is clear that voters are voting extremes across the globe. In México voters gave up on the PAN and the PRI and went with Morena and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO. AMLO’s tenure, so far, has not met the dreams of those who voted for him. Violence in México is on the rise. AMLO’s national guard created to address the violence has instead been re-positioned to act as Trump’s wall on the Guatemalan border.
In many ways, like attacks on facts, AMLO is the Mexican version of Donald Trump, but leaning far to the left. Both Trump and AMLO were catapulted into office by voters feeling disfranchised by their politicos.
And like Bernie Sanders, AMLO argues that he was cheated in a previous election by the political establishment. Sanders blames the Democrat machine behind Hillary Clinton for cheating him out of the nomination in 2016.
Now Bernie Sanders is running again for the nomination. He is gaining traction. He is disrupting, again, the Democrat machinery that is trying to impose Joe Biden on the Democrat ticket.
Bernie Sanders is not the answer to Donald Trump.
Sanders is just another extreme, just opposite of Trump. Can Sanders beat Trump? It is hard to tell.
On one hand Bernie Sanders has motivated voters behind him. That is important to counter the Trump motivated voters. But are they enough?
Will the Democrats support a Bernie Sanders ticket? Will they rally behind him in the numbers necessary to counter Trump’s support?
Therein lies the problem. Bernie Sanders has ideas that disrupt the fundamental politics of the nation. Sanders will face the same problems AMLO faces in implementing his agenda. And, like AMLO, the Bernie Sander vision can lead to exacerbating problems already preoccupying voters. Sanders vision scares too many voters.
But to be clear, Joe Biden is not a friend to immigrants. The Democrats have never been friendly towards immigrants because immigrants disrupt the labor base that the Democrats depend on.
But Biden offers a political platform that is more central, possibly bringing more voters to the table. But, are they enough? Are they motivated enough?
Because of the Hillary Clinton fiasco, many Sanders supporters will likely believe that Sanders was cheated again out of the nomination should he not get it for November.
As a result, they will stay home.
It is a lose, lose situation. Bernie Sanders cannot beat Trump. Joe Biden will just alienate voters that could counter Trump voters. All this helps only one person, Donald J. Trump.
