The primaries of 2016 were madness on both sides of the aisle. Republicans had upwards of twenty candidates requiring two separate stages…
The primaries of 2016 were madness on both sides of the aisle. Republicans had upwards of twenty candidates requiring two separate stages for debates that took up most of the day of broadcasting when they were scheduled. Presumptive nominee Jeb Bush performed so spectacularly poorly and while Ted Cruz lasted longer, struggling for second place, but ultimately the primary went to a reality show star and criminally convicted racist Donald Trump who would eventually move on to win the general election.
The Democratic primary was a far more focused endeavor with only two real competitors. In fact, I personally challenge whoever reads this to name the candidates other than Sanders and Clinton who made it to the first debate stage without using a search engine. I’ll pro-actively remind you about Jim Webb since everyone always forgets Jim Webb (even Jim Webb). Only Martin O’Malley actually lasted until the Primary officially started and he dropped out February 1st.
Bernie Sanders faced a slew of impossible-seeming challenges in his 2016 primary election, and despite all of them he managed to make it through to the convention and make Clinton fight tooth-and-nail, though he eventually lost 43% to 55%. Sanders’ passion for politics and intelligence haven’t faded and since 2016 he’s had massive success in negating each of the critiques that many Democratic and D.C. Establishment figures threw at him.
It’s true that in 2015 Bernie Sanders was a relative unknown in national politics but that is wildly different from the 2018 and 2020 election cycles. He was dismissed as someone with a “small and devout following”, but now his small following has grown to make him the singularly most popular senator in the country with 64% support in his state. Far more importantly, he’s achieved a national approval of 53% with only 38% disapproval in the country. Since 2017, he’s been the only politician in the country with more than 50% national support.
America knows who he is and...
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