Why does the left always attack Sanders?

By: Sam Jones, Columnist

Senator Bernie Sanders recently took the lead in Iowa Caucus polling, greatly increasing his chances to become the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. With this week kicking off with the Iowa Caucus, things have really heated up, and true colors are beginning to show. A Sanders nominee would of course mean a campaign against incumbent President Trump, who has my total support at this time. However, specifically in the Democratic primary, Sen. Sanders has earned my silent support. The amount of establishment backlash he has dealt with in two campaign cycles is laughable, but also very sad for democracy.

Many believe that Senator Sanders should have won the 2016 Democratic Primary against Hillary Clinton, but the DNC rigged the election in favor of Clinton. Even the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, Donna Brazile, admitted that she had discovered evidence of the DNC rigging the election against Sanders. Clinton defeated Sanders in the 2016 primary, leading Sanders to endorse Clinton and encourage his supporters to switch their support to Clinton. However, Clinton and her aides still claim that his endorsement came too late and did not truly unify the party. Sanders had a huge following in 2016, and continues to poll towards the top in nationwide polls. 

Not much has changed for Sanders during the 2020 campaign cycle. A recently published Hollywood Reporter interview featuring Hillary Clinton included an extensive conversation into her feelings on Bernie Sanders. “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done. He was a career politician” she said. She also declined to say if she would endorse Sanders if he were to win the Democratic nomination. The timing of publishing this interview just weeks before the Iowa Caucus was no coincidence. Clinton still does not want Bernie Sanders to succeed. 

Additionally, Sen. Elizabeth Warren attacked Sen. Sanders in the CNN Primary Debate earlier in January. She claimed that in a private conversation, Sanders stated that a woman could not become president. This seems highly uncharacteristic of Sanders, as he endorsed Clinton in 2016 after being defeated in the primary. Additionally, Clinton received several million more votes in Donald Trump in 2016, so anyone who thinks a woman couldn’t be president is just plain wrong. CNN later released a clip of Sen. Warren approaching Sen. Sanders immediately after the debate, asking him “Did you just call me a liar on national television?” After Sen. Sanders pleaded with her to do this at a later time, the two dispersed.

 CNN shined a spotlight on this conflict, which was merely an accusation with no proof from either side. Because of the timing of all of this, I believe that several leaders within the DNC are against Sen. Sanders’ bid for the White House. And while I simply disagree with almost every policy point that Sanders would advocate for, my inner-Trumpian can not help but silently root for him in the primary. If Sen. Sanders can pull off the nomination, he will do the same thing that Trump did in 2016. He will have overthrown his party’s establishment, and bring change to their politics.

Instead of spreading rumors about what Sanders may have said in a private conversation, a more effective strategy would be to call him out for being a socialist, which he is.