Cartoon by Pat Cross 2020
After Super Tuesday, the US Democrats find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
Yielding to heavy pressure from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race the day before Super Tuesday—the day in which fourteen states held their primaries—and both expressed their support for former VP Joe Biden.
The race for the Dem nomination is now on between Biden and Bernie Sanders, the self-styled Democratic Socialist who’s not even a member of the Dem party. It’s a race between a far-left candidate and a left-of-center candidate. The latter. Joe Biden, shares the same ideological lane with Michael “Mini Mike” Bloomberg and could benefit from Bloomberg’s decision to call it a day.
But “Mini Mike” is not quite ready to give in, after spending over half a billion dollars in a campaign that has so far failed to propel him to the pole position. His dismal results on Super Tuesday may convince him that it’s time to stop throwing good money after bad and step aside. The decision may even come today.
Assuming that Elizabeth Warren, who’s staying in the race, is actually going nowhere, the Dems are left with Biden and Sanders. Neither candidate appears capable of defeating Donald Trump.
Sanders enjoys wide grassroots support in many states but is generally viewed as alien to America’s core values. In a debate, Trump would quickly expose him as a communist throwback pushing crackpot idealistic plans he can’t finance. It wouldn’t end well for Bernie, but at least he would be the nominee and get a chance to cross swords with Trump, after getting unfairly sidelined in 2016.
Biden’s another story. He’s a ‘moderate’ whose platform better resonates with millions of Americans. Unfortunately, he appears to be losing his mind and carries a lot of damning baggage (his dealings with Ukraine for starters). Trump would not hesitate to bring it all up in a debate and turn the event into a public execution.
If the DNC denies Bernie Sanders his nomination in spite of his final delegate count, there is a danger of many of his supporters casting a protest vote in Trump’s favor—which would clearly work against Biden.
If Bernie Sanders beats Biden and earns his nomination without the Dems resorting to dirty tricks to stop him, he will still get trounced by the incumbent President.
This is the Democrats’ dilemma and it’s hard to see a positive outcome for them.