Photo courtesy of The National Review
On February 19, Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he will be running for president for the second time. It’s a move that many saw coming, but that many (including President Donald Trump) were hoping that Sanders would never make. Sanders, a straight white 77-year-old man, is throwing his hat into a very crowded and very diverse ring. With his opponents being mostly women and many of them being people of color, Sanders stands out as being a candidate that’s strikingly the opposite. He’s also the only candidate who has run for president before, giving him a massive base that other candidates like Senators Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand may not have. Within a day of announcing, Sanders had raised $6 million, smashing Senator Kamala Harris’s previous record of $1.5 million raised in the first day.
Unlike in 2016, Sanders is the heavyweight of the Democratic race for the nomination. Back then, Secretary Hillary Clinton was all but guaranteed the nomination, with her large network of connections, established reputation, and armies of donors backing her up. This time around, however, Sanders is the frontrunner. He established his name and brand in 2016, almost giving Clinton a run for her money, and built up a large base that has only continued to grow in the years since. His platform—considered then to be far too progressive and radically liberal—has since become more aligned with the Democratic Party’s mainstream message as many Democrats have pushed to become a more liberal force to oppose Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s conservative agenda. He hasn’t remained quiet in the years since Donald Trump was elected, remaining a harsh critic of the President and pushing back against the Republicans whenever he could. In 2020, something that will matter most to liberal voters is how much a candidate has done to resist Trump, and Sanders has been one of Trump’s biggest obstacles. After Sanders announced, Trump was quick to tweet “Crazy Bernie has just entered the race. I wish him well!” in a move of utter sarcasm and unprofessionalism. Sanders was able to immediately use this to his advantage, swiftly accusing Trump of xenophobia and sexism, which Sanders’ base ate up in a heartbeat.
Sanders’ ideas are progressive and are what many liberals would love to see, but is his entrance into the race really the best thing for the Democratic Party? His ideas have now become part of the mainstream and are no longer considered so radical, and other candidates like Kamala Harris and Cory Booker can bring similar ideas to the table. While being an idealistic candidate that could strongly satisfy the Democrats’ ultimate goal of removing Trump from office, he distracts from another important goal of the Democrats, which is to elect a more diverse, history-making candidate. He has also, in a way, become much like Hillary Clinton—there are people who are willing to vote for anybody that is not him. This includes conservatives who dislike Trump but dislike Sanders more, or even some moderate liberals who can’t stomach Sanders’ socialist tendencies and would be much happier with someone much less revolutionary. On the other hand, his base is dedicated, and his platform is one that less-moderate liberals can get behind. His policy goals are a welcomed relief from Trump, and could help bring the country back from the racist, anti-immigrant hole it’s fallen down. So, is Bernie running a good thing for the Democrats? Is he the key to knocking Donald Trump out of the White House? Ultimately, we’ll find out in 2020.
Anissa Weisel
Anissa, a staff writer at “In the Zeitgeist,” is a second-year student at NYU majoring in Politics and minoring in Art History. Her mother is Thai and her father is American, but she spent the majority of her childhood in Singapore before moving to New York for college. Anissa currently interns with the District Attorney of New York, and has interned with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in the past, as well as the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. She hopes to attend law school in the future, and hopefully eventually practice criminal law either in the United States or the United Kingdom.
