The previous blog discussed, among other things, the fact that, as it has lurched leftward, the Democrat Party has essentially split into two entities, one of them more moderate/mainstream, the other more leftist/socialist.
Here is another example of what I am talking about, via the following excerpts from Christopher Cadelago and Carl Marinucci’s article for politico.com:
Bernie Sanders put down roots in California during the last presidential race — and he never really left. Now, he is making the delegate-rich, early voting state, where progressives are ascendant, a central part of his 2020 campaign.
But as the Vermont senator sets up camp here again, he finds himself in a different and perhaps less favorable environment, without Hillary Clinton to play off, surging energy behind a progressive rival in Elizabeth Warren and a popular home-state senator, Kamala Harris.
“Last time, Sanders was able to run as the only progressive against an establishment candidate,” said Doug Herman, a California-based Democratic strategist. “There are multiple options for a progressive candidate at this point—if that’s who you want to elect. And polling is showing that Warren is taking the biggest bite out of Bernie’s base.”
Last time around, Bernie Sanders was a sort of benign, charismatic oddity; a socialist-Democrat candidate who energized the left wing of the Democrat Party. Unfortunately for him, he was running against Hillary Clinton, who establishment Democrats had already anointed as their candidate – and fixed the election process to make sure it happened.
This time around, however, hard leftists have a presidential buffet to pick from. And Bernie Sanders, while still a favorite of enough of them to be the leading leftist (as of now), is just one of the alternatives.
I can’t help thinking that President Trump and his people are smiling in anticipation of the upcoming Democrat debates, in which these candidates will desperately try to out-left each other, and the party’s front-runner, Joe Biden – even as he tries to convince primary voters he is a “progressive” – will come across looking like an old, tired, right wing relic by comparison.
Nothing lifts an incumbent’s political spirits like watching potential opponents duking it out, leaving the eventual “winner” not only bloodied and battered, but giving the incumbent the benefit of opposition research used against his eventual opponent, that can then be used in the general election.
Trump, with no serious competition for the 2020 nomination (unless you think former Massachusetts Governor William Weld – who most people never even heard of – is going to give him a battle) has got to be loving this.
