Democrats say their number one goal in the 2020 Democratic primaries, is to select the person who has the best chance to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 general election. Based on this stated goal some Democrats are either applying the do as I say not as I do rule, or they are suffering the same self-denial as an alcoholic or drug addict and behaving as Democrats that want to reelect Trump!!!
So far there have been 3 Democratic primaries and Bernie Sanders has won 2 of them and came in 2nd in the other 1. In the 3rd one, the Nevada primary, his margin of victory approached blow-out status with a 20% plus lead over Joe Biden, who came in 2nd after practically finishing in last place in the other 2 primaries. An Iowa entrance poll and a New Hampshire exit poll both showed that the priority for Democratic primary voters in both states was defeating President Trump, but Iowa voted Sanders a very close 2nd place and New Hampshire voted him the winner outright. These are the vote totals of Democrats that want to reelect Trump not defeat him.
Sanders owes his blow-out Nevada win to the overwhelming 51% Hispanic vote he received. Nevada’s vote totals are ironic because the Hispanic community is the prime target of President Trump’s harsh anti-immigration policies. Oddly they rewarded Bernie Sanders, the person least likely to beat Trump in the November general election. It raises the question if unconsciously Nevada’s Hispanics are also Democrats that want to reelect Trump and not defeat him.
Bernie Sanders is a good and dedicated public servant, but there are 2 components of his political life that will make it very difficult for him to win a general election against Donald Trump. The 1st component is philosophically he describes himself as a Socialist. According to Sanders, his brand of socialism is a blend of socialism and democracy, unfortunately, general election voters will view his socialism like his Democratic primary opponent, Michael Bloomberg, described it in last week’s debate as communism.
Two people come to the mind of most Americans when the subject or label of socialism is mentioned, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, both are the world’s most famous critics and foes of American capitalism.
This might explain why in a Gallop poll taken this month only one group’s poll numbers reached majority opposition when asked about presidential voting preferences, 53% of Americans said they would not vote for a presidential candidate that was a socialist. 9 in 10 Americans say they would vote for a presidential candidate nominated by their party who happened to be black, Catholic, Hispanic, Jewish or a woman. 8 in 10 said they would vote for candidates who are evangelical Christians, gays or lesbians, and 6 in 10 said they would vote for someone who is under 40 years of age, over 70, a Muslim or an atheist. This means that if Bernie Sanders is selected to be the Democratic nominee, he will, in essence, be selected by unwitting Democrats that want to reelect Trump.
The 2nd component of Bernie Sanders’s political life that will make it hard for him to win a general election is his fierce commitment to Medicare-For-All. A Gallop poll taken 2 months ago says 54% of Americans prefer a healthcare system based on private insurance, and a minority of 42% prefer a government-run healthcare system. A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Cook Political Report of swing voters found only 36 percent of swing voters thought Medicare-For-All was a good idea and 62 percent thought it was a bad idea.
Any questions about how lethal the Medicare-For-All proposal can be for Democrats in a general election are answered in a study done by Emory University Professor Alan Abramowitz. Abramowitz conducted a study of the 2018 House election results to analyze how Democratic House candidates who committed to support the Sanders Medicare-For-All plan fared, versus those who did not. His analysis found that in competitive House races only 45% of those who supported Sanders Medicare-For-All won, while 72% of those in competitive races who didn’t support the Sanders plan won their elections. This is solid proof that any Democrats voting to make Bernie Sanders the 2020 Democratic nominee, might as well declare themselves as Democrats that want to reelect Trump.
Another issue that has not received much attention so far but probably will gain traction as Sanders’s front runner status brings more scrutiny upon him, is his refusal to release his medical records. In December 3 months after his heart attack, Sanders released 3 letters from 3 Doctors that attest to his health but provide no proof such as examination records. One letter said Sanders is “in good health currently,” a second letter said his recovery from his heart attack was “uneventful,” and a third letter said Sanders had experienced “modest heart muscle damage” but that his heart function was now “stable and well-preserved.”
Shortly after his October heart attack, Sanders said he would release his medical records, last week at a CNN town hall in Las Vegas when asked if he would release the medical records he replied: “I don’t think we will, no.” Sanders might think he can get away with this because Donald Trump has refused to release his medical records. Sanders’s problem is he is 78 and unlike Trump, he is the only presidential candidate in the race that has had a heart attack. This issue alone with the right amount of scrutiny could make him unelectable. While Sanders is a staunch believer in Medicare-For-All he apparently is not a staunch believer in his medical records for all, this designates him as an involuntary member of the group of Democrats that want to reelect Trump.
Democrats have a serious choice to make, either they are Democrats that want to defeat Trump or are they are Democrats that want to reelect Trump. If they are Democrats that want to reelect Trump then they will make Bernie Sanders the 2020 Democratic nominee, if they are Democrats that want to defeat Trump and win back the Senate, they will vote for Joe Biden and select him as the 2020 Democratic nominee!!!