WILL THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE BE A 78 YEAR OLD SOCIALIST?

…This is what should be shown as a truthful ad for Donald Trump in 2020

The Republicans are very happy that the Democratic candidates are at each other’s throats.

Do you remember back in 2016 when a well know pundit wrote the following about Donald Trump as a possible Republican presidential nominee:

“Are Republican voters really choosing as their standard-bearer a man who preaches such hatred and spews such vitriol?”

Well, unfortunately, we all know how that turned out.

But on stage this week at the 10^th Democratic debate, one by one, the six Democratic candidates took shots at the self-described socialist who is now the front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination.

“If you think the last four years has been chaotic, divisive, toxic, and exhausting, just imagine spending the better part of 2020 with Bernie Sanders versus Donald Trump.”  This was the comment offered up by the by the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, and Democratic presidential nominee, Pete Buttigieg.

There were 7 people on the stage in the latest debate, but 6 of them were all going after Bernie and it became a regular “food fight” with Mike Bloomberg, Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Tom Steyer and Buttigieg, all joining into to the fray against Bernie.

One by one, the Democratic candidates took shots at the self-described socialist, who had surprisingly become the front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination.

“Russia is helping you get elected,” said former New York mayor, Mike Bloomberg.  He told Sanders, “So you will lose to [Trump].”

Businessman Tom Steyer told Sanders, “The answer is not for the government to take over the private [health] sector.”

Former vice president Joe Biden pointed out that Sanders voted against an assault-weapons ban back in 2012, and that back then Bernie had also said "we should primary Barack Obama.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren had declared that she “would make a better president than Bernie.”  And Senator Amy Klobuchar informed Sanders that his health plan “math does not add up" and that “we should pay attention to where the voters of this country are, Bernie.”

So, how did Senator Bernie Sanders respond to all this?

Senator Sanders scoffed, smirked, grimaced and glowered. “Not true!” he interjected, and once stated: “categorically incorrect!”  He shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. “I’m hearing my name mentioned a little bit tonight — I wonder why?” the front-runner asked.

He then chose to parry by shouting counter-assaults against Bloomberg, and against Buttigieg, and against Biden.

But of course, all the others joined in, and soon it became a real, all-out “food fight”, with the rhetorical mashed potatoes and rotten tomatoes landing everywhere.  Warren hit Bloomberg, who hit Sanders.  Biden hit Klobuchar, while Steyer hit Sanders and Bloomberg.  Biden hit Steyer, and Warren seriously pummeled Bloomberg.

It was amazing that just after the debate started, the CBS moderators all lost total control of the stage.  Candidates shouted at each other, they talked over the moderators and they interrupted at will. “He spoke over time, and I’m going to talk!” bellowed Biden. The audience cheered and booed as if watching a professional wrestling match or a roller-derby event.

Even though only 32% of South Carolina Republicans voted for Trump in 2016, Trump didn’t need a majority of the voters for him to secure his nomination.

Now, it could be a mirror-image of this happening in the Democratic race.  Sanders has only 29% support in the polls, but the fragmented field among 7 candidates, this could prevent any one candidate from emerging as an alternative.  This is very much as the crowded field of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and the rest of the Republicans split the anti-Trump vote in the 2016 Republican primaries.

It could be deja view all over again.

If this field remains this splintered, the Democrats will soon find it is Sanders or possibly nobody that has the necessary delegates.  Either Sanders wins the nomination outright or comes close enough, that his angry supporters torpedo the nominee, which could assure a Trump victory at the polls.

If Tuesday night’s dynamic confusion continues to hold, the Democrats are on their way to opposing Trump with a 78-year-old socialist who recently suffered a heart attack.  This is also someone who has had nice things to say about those nasty regimes around the word, and who has a $60 trillion spending plan without explaining how we'll pay for it.

Sanders’s opponents have sounded the alarm.

“Not only is this a way to get Donald Trump reelected,” said Buttigieg. “We’ve got a House to worry about, and we’ve got a Senate to worry about.”

Said Bloomberg: “If you keep on going, we will select Bernie. Bernie will lose to Donald Trump, and Donald Trump and the House and the Senate and some of the statehouses will all go red.”

Now, that’s not already in the works, but it is a possibility if things continue to go as they are going today.

Fortunately, we still have got a lot to go through before this becomes a reality. 

However, it is a possibility, and it does mean that it’s time to get serious and get the number of Democratic candidates down to a more workable number..

Hopefully, better angels will handle the situation going forward, but there are no guarantees in either case.

Hopefully, it won't be that "deja view all over again".

Copyright G. Ater 2020