Washington Post-Can Bernie Sanders really win over Trump voters?

[Gothmog]

sanders is claiming that he can win over trump voters. There are good reasons to doubt this claim https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/can-bernie-sanders-really-win-over-trump-voters/2019/04/14/43744f10-5c65-11e9-9625-01d48d50ef75_story.html?utm_term=.ff3386b1b77e

Link to tweet

In Wisconsin and Michigan, Democrats nominated more traditional candidates for governor and captured both seats from Republicans. Some Democrats say a similar model is the path to victory in 2020.

Framing Sanders as the face of the Democratic Party, as the Fox appearance could do, will help Trump rather than hurt him, they contend.....

Sanders campaigned for Democrats in the Midwest several times in the run-up to the 2018 midterms, but most of his endorsed candidates lost. Kansas’s Brent Welder and Iowa’s Pete D’Alessandro, for example, were defeated in their House primaries by more moderate Democrats who went on to win in November.

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who faces reelection in a ruby red state, said his constituents want a consensus builder at the top of the ticket, “someone who can govern, who can reach across, not only across the aisle, but within the various groups, within the Democratic Party.” He declined to discuss whether Sanders qualifies.

I do not believe that sanders can win a significant number of trump supporters and trying to do so would alienate key elements of the Democratic base like African American voters.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. If, as some surveys have strongly suggested, the most significant factor motivating Trump voters

in 2016 was racism and not economic insecurity, Bernie's trademark rant about millionaires and billionaires isn't going to persuade many of them. They don't care if the millionaires and billionaires are sucking the economy dry as long as PoC don't get government help and immigrants are excluded altogether.

[Gothmog]

2. I have seen those surveys and hey are strong

[LudwigPastorius]

3. What does a Trump supporter see in Bernie that they'd like?

Weil, they are both crotchety, old, white guys with bad hair who haven't released their taxes, so...


(That's a joke...stolen from NPR. It's just a joke. No, I don't believe Bernie is anything like Trump. Full disclosure: I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary.)

[An American Clusterf]

4. Anybody watch Bill Maher on Friday?

As soon as the panel discussion starts (right after the Abrahamson interview), he makes clear that now is not the time for a sharp left turn. I agree.

Starts at 18:36