In a recent radio interview, mainstream media darling and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders didn’t rule out another presidential run in 2020. Stating it was just “much too early” to decide on running, Sanders revealed that he was definitely not ruling out a second go at the White House.
“I’m not taking it off the table,” he said in an interview with Sirius XM’s “Make it Plain with Mark Thompson”. “I just have not made any decisions. And I think it’s much too early.”
Sanders went on to say he is currently focused on a variety of important issues, and “fights that must be fought” today.
“Our job right now is to not only fight against this disastrous health care proposal, it is to take on all of Trump’s reactionary proposals,” Sanders said. “He is a representative of the billionaire class. He’s at war against the working class. We’ve got to raise the minimum wage right now, we’re working on that, to 15 bucks an hour. We have got to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We’ve got to be aggressive on criminal justice reform. It’s just too early to be talking about an election 3½ years from now.”
This isn’t the first time Sanders, 75, has referenced his possible willingness to run for president again. He made similar statements during a CNN town hall event in January 2017. If he were to run and be elected in 3 years, Sanders would become the oldest United States president ever elected; he would be 79 at his inauguration.
Sanders was beloved by college-aged Americans and given a lot of attention and applause by both the media and the left-leaning public when he ran against Hilary Clinton in the Democratic primary. Millennials and young adults in particular vigorously supported the self-proclaimed socialist senator, mounting huge grassroots efforts and social media campaigns to support his efforts. Clinton won the primary and the rest is history…for now.
Could a Sanders Presidential Campaign Happen?
Bernie Sanders often appears to be campaigning, even as he declares he is undecided. Democrats who supported him in the past are growing frustrated with his lack of apparent commitment about 2020, since he should be in the early stages of locking down staff commitments and raising funds if he is actually considering a 2020 run.
Sanders continues to travel the campaign circuit and make headlines, from introducing a “Medicare for everyone” bill to speaking on issues ranging from what he perceives as Donald Trump’s choice for FBI director to the new healthcare bill.
On the nomination of Christopher Wray to serve as FBI director, Sanders said:
“The key issue here, Mark, there’s one very simple issue: We have … a very, very weird moment in American history. We have a president who is doing things that have been unprecedented. There is reason to believe that he may have fired the last FBI director because that director was in the middle of an investigation looking at the possible collusion of the Trump campaign with Russia. That’s why, maybe, why he was fired.”
Adding that the “most important thing” about the new FBI director was that he took an independent stance and stand up to the president, Sanders shared his thoughts on the matter, then went back to campaigning/not campaigning.
Sanders recently re-registered as an independent, but is still a frontrunner when it comes to Democratic possibilities for the next presidential race. It is obviously too early to tell, but the hard-left mouthpiece does seem to be going out of his way to visit traditional campaign locations and to be a vocal opponent of the current administration.
If Sanders were to run, he would likely face opposition within his own party due to his independent and sometimes radical tendencies. If he were able to secure the nomination, he would have the mainstream media on his side, but would have to face a strong incumbent with a huge and active conservative following.
Unfortunately for Sanders and for the Democrats as a whole, a successful presidential campaign would mean the left has to develop policy stances beyond that of “we’re not Trump” and “Russia, Russia, Russia”.
Considering Republicans haven’t been able to even pass any laws for them to oppose, a Sanders presidential campaign could actually be a great thing for the Republican Party.
~ Conservative Zone
