I’m not a hater or a pawn of the establishment. But, with all due respect, I’m worried about Bernie Sanders as the potential Democratic nominee for president. I’ll fight for Sanders if he’s the nominee because he’s far better than Donald Trump, but I have two major concerns right now. First, Elizabeth Warren is better. Second, Republicans can’t wait to attack Sanders.
Warren is a classic “happy warrior,” the toughest and most likable candidate in the race. She could decimate Trump in a debate, sprint into the crowd, and take hundreds of smiling selfies with the audience. And she was a Republican until she saw how Republicans were failing everyday Americans, so she can appeal to disenchanted Republicans who might still be open-minded.
She’s also the most prepared to be an effective president, considering her excellence at the highest levels of education, the private sector and government. Her Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has helped millions of people recover billions of dollars from manipulative corporations. She has real accomplishments, well-articulated proposals and practical plans.
As for potential Republican attacks on Sanders, here’s the question I ask when someone tells me that Sanders would have beaten Trump in 2016: What’s the worst thing Hillary Clinton said about Sanders during their campaign? People usually respond, “I don’t know.” Sometimes they say, “She called him unqualified.” I remind them that was a misquote.
In fact, Clinton soundly defeated Sanders without needing to attack and embarrass a long-term ally. Will Trump and the Republicans treat Sanders as well? Not a chance. I’m not attacking Sanders, but Trump will. Sanders polls well against Trump now partly because he hasn’t faced sustained attacks the likes of which Trump and the Republicans will launch.
Republicans are terrible at governing, but they know how to swing a wrecking ball. They’ll find plenty about Sanders to bash and smash just by Googling his public record. Most prominently, Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist, and a recent Gallup poll showed that a majority of Americans wouldn’t vote for a socialist.
It’s not rocket surgery to understand that many Americans put “socialism” in scare-quotes. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania where most people think socialism is communism on dictatorial steroids. Many believe Sanders is the same kind of socialist that Hitler was. Yes, that’s ridiculous, but people believe ridiculous things. And Sanders has spoken favorably about the Sandinistas and Fidel Castro, which many pundits say will cost him Florida’s electoral votes. Lose Pennsylvania and Florida, and the election is over.
Sanders is vulnerable to plenty of other attacks. He doesn’t explain his health care and tax plans well enough to keep Republicans from grossly misrepresenting them. He’s also problematic on gun issues. Republicans are far worse, but that won’t stop Trump from lying to spin the issue against Sanders. And Trump will claim that Sanders is a career politician, a member of the do-nothing “establishment,” a rich guy pretending to be a revolutionary.
Sanders frequently criticizes the Democratic Party, so it’s hard to see him helping with crucial congressional races or choosing a unifying person as his running mate. Trump will even claim that Sanders was mean to Hillary and try to rewrite history with Sanders as the villain of 2016 instead of himself.
Then add obvious attacks on Sanders’s health and age. And in response to Trump’s sexist history, Republicans will cloud the issue by pulling out decades-old writings by Sanders about women having rape fantasies and getting cancer from sexual repression. Or they’ll point out that Sanders had a child out of wedlock who was on welfare. Trump will rant that Sanders has a terrible employment history in contrast to his false claims of business success.
Republicans will quote the many people who say Sanders is hard to work with and has a terrible temper. That’s partly a projection of Trump’s flaws, but there’s just enough truth to make it stick. Trump will claim that Sanders enables his “Bernie Bro” bullies even though MAGA rallies resemble extended versions of George Orwell’s “Two Minutes Hate.”
Sanders voted for the 1994 Crime Bill and against Amber Alerts while Trump will falsely boasts about reforming criminal justice. Trump has already claimed that Russia controls Sanders, which is like the pot calling the kettle a kitchen implement. Sanders pushed for dumping Vermont’s nuclear waste in rural Texas, which Trump will hypocritically use to claim Sanders is bad for the environment and Hispanic Americans. Republicans will even twist Sanders’s occasional criticisms of Obama to paint him as a racist.
And Republicans will trot out attacks we can’t yet imagine. Many will be lies, but Trump is proof that voters believe obvious lies. With each new and recycled attack, Trump will chip away support for Sanders. And very few people who don’t already support Sanders will believe his rebuttals.
Again, I can’t emphasize enough that I’ll support Sanders if he’s the nominee. I hope I’m wrong about these concerns. But we need to vet him more thoroughly now so that he can build defenses against inevitable Republican attacks — or so that we can choose a better candidate. Trump got elected partly because people believed his attacks on Clinton. We can’t let that happen to Sanders or anyone else.
John Sheirer is a writer and teacher who lives in Florence. His most recent book is the fictional thriller, “Uncorrected.” Find him at JohnSheirer.com.