Betting on Bernie – How the Left Will Use Sanders as an Excuse for Losing in 2020

Senator Bernie Sanders, an admitted Socialist, will once again, be used and abused by the Democrat Party in the upcoming elections. Even though he appears to be the frontrunner, Bernie is not now, nor ever has been a true Democrat. Despite his lack of Democrat-pedigree, the DNC allowed him to run on a Democratic Party ticket in 2016. He was used to get his voting block shifted over to Hillary; a poorly planned process which just about gave Sanders the nomination.

It’s obvious when looking at the event in hindsight, that the DNC never expected Bernie to make any significant inroads to becoming the nominee. They felt candidate Clinton was a lock, and with the Super delegates in her camp, most Americans felt the same way. Despite the deck being stacked against him, Sanders surged and had what looked like a clear path to defeating Mrs. Clinton in the early days of the 2016 primaries. But, as expected, when Hillary Clinton’s “sure thing” was in jeopardy, the DNC stepped in to alter the playing field in favor of Clinton. The DNC did everything they could to help Hillary and hurt Bernie. They basically cheated him out of the nomination. Once the wheels of corruption started turning in favor of Clinton, Bernie never had a chance.

America learned accidentally of the financial arrangement Clinton had with the DNC. DNC official Donna Brazile leaked the fact in her book, basically telling the world that there was a secret agreement between the DNC and Clinton's campaign. She agreed to bail the Party out, but only if her campaign had full authority of the Party’s resources. Recall, at the time the agreement was made, the DNC was still deep in debt from overspending on the 2012 campaign of former President Obama. The agreement gave Mrs. Clinton complete control over the Party’s strategy, finances, and most importantly, how DNC funds were to be disbursed. She had full control over the purse and wielded that power without mercy... In hindsight, most Americans saw this arrangement as unethical and wrong, but no one did anything to save Bernie. It only got worse when Brazile was caught giving Mrs. Clinton debate questions ahead of time; again giving her an advantage in the primary race. Bernie must have seen the writing on the wall, but held firm; for a while.

Sanders eventually endorsed Clinton, but how he did it left voters with more questions than answers. The two came together in a joint appearance in which he endorsed her, but did not formally drop out of the race. Some say this was a planned scenario that gave him time to convince his voting base to shift their support to Clinton. During that grey area, the media ran wild stories that speculated Bernie was bought off by the Clinton campaign. The fact that just a few weeks after the endorsement, Sanders purchased a $600,000.00 home on Lake Champlain with 500 feet of shoreline access, only added fuel to that fire. The delay was likely an insurance policy by Clinton. It’s been theorized that if the support came, then so did the money, if not, then who knows what would have occurred? Those close to the story were scratching their collective heads trying to figure out how a public servant could afford a summer home of such value. Especially, since at the time, his self-reported net worth was only $528,014. Whether or not the Clinton campaign moved money to Bernie Sanders, has never been proven, nor disproven. Sanders seemed, by all accounts, to have taken the money and ran.

Fast-forward to 2020. President Trump has the American economy humming along at an amazing pace. Unemployment is down, wages and the stock market are up, and there is a high degree of optimism among voters. Democrats have tried to dig up political and personal dirt on President Trump since the 1^st day of his Presidency. Repeated investigations, culminating with a failed impeachment, were all planned to limit the President from accomplishing his campaign promises. Yet, despite the stacked odds against him, the President has been successful at confirming a large number of judges, including two Supreme Court Justices. The Wall is being built, but at a slower pace than expected by voters. Trade deals are being negotiated to improve our position and NAFTAHe is fulfilling his promise to Make America Great Again, much to the chagrin of the Democrats. Hillary Clinton isn’t running again, but Bernie Sanders is taking another shot at it.

The field of candidates running for the nomination was very large initially, with some having dropped out before the Iowa caucuses; the first primary of the season. Senator Sanders support has been surging and he appears to be either 1^st or second at the moment; something which is causing another round of problems for the Party. Sander’s is a Socialist who is running on the Democrat ticket. A very large portion of the Party is unhappy at his current status, mainly because he doesn’t 100% sell the Democrat message and because the DNC can’t control him. Some are now saying that the only reason he was allowed on the 2016 Party stage was to keep him from running as an Independent and dividing the potential Democrat vote. Many people speculate things are similar in 2020 and he’s being kept around just long enough to hurt his chances of running on an Independent ticket. Others see the size of his base, and realize that the Democrats will not win the election without it. The Party is facing a crisis as it is being destroyed from within.

Major Democrats are speaking out against Sanders and he’s become a target of other candidates in recent weeks. In what appears to be a huge unexpected turning of the tables, the ones who thought they were using Sanders, are actually the ones being used. Hillary Clinton, in an interview, spoke at length about how no one likes Senator Sanders. It was an obvious attack meant to hurt his chances in the primary races. John Kerry, while being interviewed on Face the Nation, made several accusations about the Sander’s team and stated Sander’s was lying about Joe Biden’s past. Other Democrats are ripping Bernie’s proposal to reshape American relations with Israel. And most recently, the DNC has been changing or ignoring their own rules by allowing Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer to remain in the race, and on the debate stage by paying huge sums of money to the DNC. Sanders keeps winning over voters and seems to have the youth vote at his beckon call; the most troubling fact for Democrats. The bigger picture seems to indicate the Party has already decided that former Vice President Joe Biden will be the chosen one this time around.

Yet, despite his past pedigree, candidate Biden is immensely flawed and is currently being subjected to scrutiny on a high level for various reasons. There is video evidence of Biden patting himself on the back for a Quid-Pro-Quo event that caused a Ukrainian Prosecutor to be fired because that person was investigating Biden’s son Hunter. Hunter Biden is under investigation for his role in Burisma Gas and receiving millions of dollars from them for doing nothing. Several other members of Biden’s family have been called out for questionable activities as well. The overall belief is that Joe Biden used his position as Vice President to sell influence and enrich his family in the process. As long as Biden stays in the race, he can keep out of the investigators crosshairs, so it’s pertinent that the DNC supports him, or they all go down

The problem with Joe Biden is that he isn’t doing very well as a candidate. He came in 4^th in the disputed Iowa caucus, and he’s not looking to pull off any wins in the next few states. In recent campaign stops, he has verbally insulted voters and the media has picked up on those instances. The likelihood of Biden making it into March, are slim to none. Current media-darling Pete Buttigieg is currently neck in neck with Sanders, but his lack of experience may be suspect. Most pundits had expected the race to be between Biden and Sanders, so Mayor Pete is causing them a whole different set of problems.

At this point, many of the pundits have written Joe Biden off. The rest of the field is fairly weak and every one of them has their own set of issues. None of them appeal to mainstream America due to their extreme views on key issues, and none of them can present a plan that would improve America. President Trump has established a very high bar, and it’s doubtful anything will change until the election.

The Democrats are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and they know it. Prominent Democrats are now publically talking about not supporting Sanders if he is the nominee. Democrat voters are faced with an unprecedented decision. If they vote Sanders in, and he is allowed to go against President Trump, the Party will be known as the new Socialist Party; since he will be the de facto leader. If they rig the process again, putting one of the lesser known candidates on the ticket, then it’s a guaranteed loss in 2020. They really have no other choice than to stop Sanders before he gets the nomination. Every week, and every primary leads to an ever-shrinking field of candidates. Of those remaining, more support will come from voters as they choose their respective person.

Joe Biden looks to be the first one out of the race, and his supporters will likely shift to Warren. She’s struggling currently and the lift would be welcome. Mayor Pete and Mayor Bloomberg both are seen as unelectable. Pete is young and has no real legislative accomplishments to stand on. Bloomberg is a total authoritarian who will only be remembered for passing laws to stop soda pop sales; not really a game changing action. Bloomberg was also recently exposed for having a strong anti-black sentiment and basically stereo-typed all young black men as criminals. Plus, he used to be a Republican, and most Democrats really don’t care for Republican policy.

So, at the end of the day, the Democrats might have to swallow hard and accept a Socialist as their candidate. If that’s the case, one of two things will happen. Bernie will lose to President Trump and will be forever sent to political purgatory. The old-school Democrats will say he and he alone was the reason why they lost; not because Trump was the best candidate. The landslide victory President Trump will command will be downplayed as nothing more than America rejecting Socialism and Bernie will be the fall guy. Or, the Democrats will play dirty pool, and find a new way to cheat Sanders out of the nomination again. They will support one of the other weaker candidates, who will also eventually lose the President Trump by a huge margin. But what’s even crazy to think about is that in the second scenario, the DNC will also blame Bernie. They will claim his voters stayed home to protest him being cheated, thus snatching victory away from whomever gets the nomination.

At this point, the best thing Bernie Sanders can do is to plan for a run as an Independent or a Socialist and see where things come out. He’s not going to be played again, but he can at least go on knowing that he is playing a prominent role in the destruction of the Democrat Party. They’ve reached the end of their usefulness to most voters due to extremism and supporting foreigners over Americans. The young Socialists, on the other hand, are just beginning to show their viability in the American political process and we can expect to see them grow as a force in the coming years. The Democrats might try to cheat him, but in the end, Bernie and his followers will continue being relevant, while the DNC isn’t likely to do anything but slowly fade into the sunset.

Bernie Sanders has too much momentum heading into the 2020 election - the Democrats need to decide if he's to be fully endorsed or how to get rid of him. It's interesting to see how things can be different than they seemed. The Democrats were using Bernie to get his voters in 2016, but in the end, we see Bernie using the DNC to advance Socialism. It's very likely that this crossroads will be definite in the future of the Party. Personally I see the Party splintering, much as we saw with the conservative arm of the GOP; they work together but also work against one another. It's another chapter in the great saga of American politics.