The 2020 elections won't have as much "pazaze" as the 2016.
Trump and his supporters were the deplorables, the sexist, racist, homophobic, etc... back then, and still are to this day.
But at the same time so are the Democrats.
-Kamala Harris, a/k/a "I'm a top tier candidate", had to drop out of the race because "Americans are not ready for a black woman to be president". In other words: racism.
-A few days ago Warren also had to drop out. One of the reasons, acknowledged by many (Warren, Sanders, Pelosi, etc...) being "sexism".
Interestingly enough, other candidates for the Democratic Primaries didn't try to find excuses. Clobuchard and Gillibrand didn't attribute their loss to "sexism"; Booker, Castro and Yang didn't attribute their loss to "racism"; and even Pete didn't attribute his loss to "homophobia".
Go figure...
There is no real point in talking about the Republican side. Trump is presenting himself and nobody is contesting him.
In the end, the Democrats are finding themselves in quite of a pickle. Sanders or Biden?
From a "character" point of view, Biden is probably the most awkward of the two. Without being partisan or anything, I believe we can all reasonably agree on the fact that his nickname "creepy Joe" is not that uncalled for. To that one could add his numerous gaffes and, let's say, concerning mistakes in term of recollection of events he described himself as being a witness of or an active participant.
It is fairly unsettling, to say the least.
Sanders, on the other hand, appears as very energetic and more coherent compared to Biden. And that is despite his recent heart attack! You've got to give it to him, he is a kicker.
Now, the biggest issue may be his sympathy for communist dictators... Not that it seems to bother his base. The deaths caused by the Castro regime, the Maoist China and the Communist USSR appear to be necessary, or at least acceptable, casualties in order to achieve their great ideological dream.
In term of base, only Bernie can claim to have a real one. A base that dates back to 2016 and grew in number since then. The "Bernie-bros" want their revenge.
Biden on the other hand, not so much. His base grew considerably mostly thanks to the other candidates dropping and telling their own base to support him.
So, if Bernie wins the primaries, will Biden's supporters vote for Bernie in 2020? Can the same question be asked if Biden wins?
As far as we can tell a fair amount of Democrats are still undecided, apart from the never-Trumpers that is. The past few months have seen a lot of Democrats switching sides, be them regular folks or elected representatives, and joining the Republicans. Which can be partly explained by the partisan vindictiveness of the Democratic Party.
I haven't seen any polls on the matter, but I assume (maybe I'm wrong though) there are more people who left the Democratic Party to join the Republicans, than the other way around. As far as I could tell, the Reps were more likely to welcome people in, while the Dems were mostly trying to keep their base intact. One way or another, the numbers may not be that relevant to have a significant impact on the voter base, but the phenomenon is nonetheless interesting and, most of all, telling.
There is no reason for Bernie to drop out or for anything to force him to drop out of the race. Well, in fact there are two reasons: he either loses the primaries, or he dies.
Biden, on the other hand, is not so lucky. And that is because he is likely to get investigated for his dealing with Ukraine (Romney got assured the investigations would be neutral and non-partisan, thus putting him at ease and giving his approval).
Policy wise?
Bernie is running a fairly "radical"-left campaign, with real ideas and an agenda. While Biden is mostly running against Trump and making sure people remember he was Obama's VP. In fact I am not sure what his program is, or if he has one, apart from the two things mentioned previously.
So yeah, we end up with Bernie and his policies that are hardly practical to begin with and very unlikely to be popular and supported by a significant number of Americans. Bernie is still considered, rightfully so I suppose, as a socialist. If not a communist. America has never been very hot for that kind of ideology...
We will see how things go. One thing is certain, the debates to come will be entertaining to watch.
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