Berniecrats Say Bernie Is Owed 2020 Nomination

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is not shy about his political goals. Sanders wants to take over the Democratic Party and follow that by winning the Democratic nomination in 2020.This weekend, Sanders and his supporters were out in force in Chicago at The People’s Summit, and 2020 talk dominated the conversation.

Speaking in Chicago, Sanders used his remarks to re-litigate the 2016 primaries, taking shots at establishment Democrats:

But it was his unsparing assessment of the party whose nomination he sought in 2016 that set off an audience of nearly 4,000 mostly dedicated ‘Berniecrats.’ ‘I am often asked by the media and others, ‘How did it come about that Donald Trump, the most unpopular presidential candidate in the modern history of our country, won the election?’ he offered teasingly as chants of “Bernie would have won” filled the hall. ‘My answer is that Trump didn’t win the election, the Democratic Party lost the election,’ Sanders said, reviving his own past criticisms.”

This weekend’s gathering was not just about looking back at 2016 though. For Sanders supporters, Bernie is owed nothing less than a 2020 coronation, and if he’s denied that they want him to run as an independent:

“Democrats won’t make that mistake twice, said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the National Nurses United. ‘He’s so clearly ahead,’ she said, predicting he would ‘sail’ to the nomination if he got into the race. “He has the most comprehensive program. He’s been doing this his whole life. What people want is what Bernie is saying.”

Yet as the New York Times chronicled on Sunday, Sanders and his far-left policies are exactly the wrong ones for the states and congressional districts in play in 2018:

“It may be essential for Democrats to reconcile the party’s two clashing impulses if they are to retake the House of Representatives in 2018. In a promising political environment, a drawn-out struggle over Democratic strategy and ideology could spill into primary elections and disrupt the party’s path to a majority.”

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have a vision of the Democratic Party remade in their extreme image. As long as Sanders and Warren are dominating the conversation, the party will remain torn between an extreme grassroots base and an establishment terrified of them.