What a Bernie Sanders Presidency Would Look Like

Pete or Bust, homophobe OP.

Bernie JUST HAD A HEART ATTACK.

His ego alone is telling him he's a viable candidate. if he gave a shit about this country, he'd sit the hell down.

HE KILLED OUR QUEEN!!!

OUR GLORIOUS, GLORIOUS QUEEN!!

[BOLD] HOW DARE HE TRY AND CHALLENGE HER WHEN IT WAS [ITALIC] CLEARLY [/ITALIC] HER TURN!!! [/BOLD]

FUCK HIM!!

FUCK HIM TO DEATH WITH A RAZOR BLADE COVERED DILDO!!!!

Listen. I will do one thing and only one thing for this man if somehow this time around it’s finally his turn: I will vote for him on Election Day.

That’s it. I’m not giving him money, I ain’t answering the phone or the door for any of his whack ass cultists.

The problem with envisioning a Sander’s presidency is the same issue as the UK recently had envisioning a Corbyn prime ministership, it emboldens his core supporters but scares the hell out of everyone else.

You are still rewarding their abusive behavior by voting for Bernie the Dinosaur.

Pete or Bust. No other candidate is acceptable under ANY circumstances.

Sorry, I meant Sanders’ in R5. I keep forgetting his name ends with an s.

Who cares? Voting for any nongay candidate makes you a homophobe.

Heterosexual men are traitors to the male sex for cockblocking other men.

Pete or Bust.

What a Bernie Sanders Presidency Would Look Like?

Venezuela 101

Higher taxes for the middle class, even higher taxes for the wealthy, leading to the wealthy moving their businesses out of the country and leaving what's left of the middle class to fall into poverty.

Oh, but Venezuela wasn't REAL socialism, right? (Yes, socialists have actually said that.)

We already have his impeachment drawn-up.

There is no power in the world that could get me to sell out my principles enough to ever support or vote for a populist demagogue that centers straight white men in all things and who has failed every test of character and leadership he's ever been given.

I will not vote for Bernie Sanders. Ever. Under any circumstances.

If he's nominated as the Democratic nominee, I will leave the Democratic party and will not vote for President (or will write in Hillary). Because a choice between Bernie and Trump is no choice at all. It's utter disaster either way.

[quote]Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, has been discussed among Sanders’ allies as a potential White House chief of staff. So has Nina Turner, a former Ohio state senator and a co-chair of Sanders’ campaign.

r1

Stop with that BS talking point. Most young gay people support Bernie over Pete.

Devastating article.

How so, R15?

Again, Bernie is a nut who will never be the nominee let alone the president.

Why do people still fall for this crap?

Oh and his wife should be in prison.

Agree with R12.

A Bernie Administration would be a dumpster fire.

It would be four years (if he lives that long) of chaos and shouty arm-waving.

It would be worse than Carter. But then Trump is going to win again anyway, so have at it. Run the leader of the loons and get it over with.

I'd rather have America go to hell and die and collapse under the GOP/Trump, than have it inevitably do the same thing under a fraud like Bernie, which would discredit progressivism for generations and destroy the Democratic party.

r22

These are Russian trolls attempting to suppress the vote and get Trump re-elected. Warning to all.

A Sanders presidency would not look like Venezuela - that country has been victim to bad leadership for quite some time, and Chavez just was a different flavor of inept.

A Sanders presidency would last for 1 term. Frankly, I doubt much of his agenda would get much anywhere unless he started to compromise (which doesn't seem to be in his DNA). As a result I can easily see his losing the House to the GOP in the mid-terms. While I would like to think that we would gain the Senate in 2020, a Sanders candidacy would probably spoil that as a number of voters would want the GOP to control the Senate just to keep Bernie and his agenda in check.

While I know the progressives seethe at the thought of a centrist Democrat getting the nomination, I think that would increase our chances of getting the Senate. Without that, it won't much matter which Democrat in the running gets to the White House.

Yup. You'd see a ton more progress under a centrist like Biden than you would under a progressive like Bernie or Warren.

With Bernie or Warren, we don't take back the Senate, and they get nothing done, and their spoiled-brat supporters whine that they've been betrayed and say home in 2022 and the GOP takes back the House and it's nothing but obstruction, and then the GOP takes back the White House in 2024.

I don't think Bernie would survive even one term anyway.

A Sanders presidency would look like the group in Abe and Rose's apartment in episode 2 of this season of MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL.

r25

Centrists brought us pure shit like the War on Drugs and mass incarceration. Pure shit that has ruined many lives. No thanks.

The War On Drugs was started by Nixon in 1971. Mass incarceration in the U.S. also began under Nixon and accelerated under Reagan.

It wouldn't be as bad as opponents say. It wouldn't be as good as supporters say.

Bigger changes for his side wouldn't come without taking the senate and growing the progressive wing with 2020's other electoral results. But it wouldn't be a stonewalling regressive mess of the Trump presidency.

At worst, it stalls in all major agenda items, is beset by infighting about priorities, and disappoints so many. That sucks. At best, it shapes up and shocks many with its efficiency and showcasing what the government could have achieved all along if it had the will. That rocks.

What I am certain of is that as political instability grows in USA - so much of it brought by economic insecurity - you're not going to get just a Bernie in the future, but exponentially more radical figures if this matter isn't sufficiently addressed. Plug the dam as much as you like, you have to let something out or everything will burst. Can you tolerate someone who just wants to (for example) tax wealthier in order to push healthcare coverage for every American, if it means it avoids masses of young(er - they'll be up to middle age by this point) voters shrugging and voting for state socialists etc in the 2020s, 30s, 40s? Or will you assume that everything is great and the complaints about inequality mean nothing?

r28

Clinton's crime bill intensified it. Centrist Dems never challenged it.

I don't get why Republicans can be so far right, while the Dems can't really be that far left. It makes no sense.

This is why the Republicans will have the edge over us for a very long time.

If Bernie loses, he will be remembered fondly as a hero and champion at least. Truth be told, it just looks like he was ahead of the time because America is one slow ass backwards motherfucker.

He should get back in the kitchen and continue filling those buckets with his delicious chicken with 11 herbs and spices. He's not fit to be POTUS.

Pete!

No Bernie-Tulsi nonsense. No to Jane being Secretary of the Treasury or head the Office of Management and Budget. That's Trump's stuff.

It would look like a sunrise dipped in dew, like a rainbow wrapped up in a sigh, soaked out in the sun and made into a strawberry lemon pie because we'd all be on LSD. The angry uneducated masses are beyond miserable and are hell bent on inflicting their misery on everyone through the orange asshole.

[quote] His ego alone is telling him he's a viable candidate.

How does that make him different from 95% of the candidates who run for public office anywhere in the world?

His first speech would be

"I intend to keep all my promises, just like Obama's promises such as to close Guantanamo"

[quote]If Bernie loses, he will be remembered fondly as a hero and champion at least.

Nope. He'll be remembered as the giant asshole he's always been. The one who brought the world a second term of Trump.

[quote]HE KILLED OUR QUEEN!!!

Uh, no. He lost to Hillary.

It can go one of three ways, either he gives in to the pro-corporate Easter Eggs that will be stuffed into legislation or he finds a way browbeat Dems into walking the talk.

Third, and scariest reality, is if the Republicans hold the Senate. McConnell is more than happy to hold up ever bill, outside of the budget to destroy Bernie. Nothing will get done. Dems would be cast as losers incapable of governing and we’d lose a large amount of seats in the midterm, maybe even the House.

Dems then primary Bernie. If Bernie avoids another heart attack, he will drag out the fight to the convention. Republicans nominate a Romney type and we lose in 2024. It would be one of the worst run administrations because he will be pushing for a lot of change that the Party really doesn’t want.

He would get nothing done. Even if Democrats took both Houses of Congress back, Bernie would still have a hard time getting his legislative agenda done.

He is NOT good at compromising and it would require a LOT of that.

In short, it would be a disaster.

R27 is a fucking moron. Which is redundant to saying "Bernie Supporter"

[quote]If Bernie loses, he will be remembered fondly as a hero and champion at least.

BWAHAHAAAHAHAAAHA!

Oh, my sides, MY SIDES!

I’m not a Bernie fan in the slightest, but I’m looking at the current picture and recognizing that he has a very clear path to the nomination. We may have to pinch our noses and vote for him in November.

And watch Trump win by a landslide.

No, R43. We don't.

If the next administration is going to be a fucking disaster anyway, I'd rather Trump & the GOP get the blame.

If the choice is Trump or Bernie, that's no choice at all. They're just two sides of the same white populist demagogue coin. If THAT'S the choice, the country is already lost, and democracy is already dead. There is no hope if we come to that.

There is no power in the universe that will ever get me to vote for Bernie.

And Fuck Bernie and his cult of bros for saddling us with Trump to begin with.

R45 are you fucking insane? There will be perhaps two Supreme Court vacancies over the next four years, chief of which is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Regardless how much Bernie may fail at implementing his various policies, his Supreme Court picks alone would be worth my vote. You can’t let Donald Trump put four Justices on there.

We hammered Barack Obama for initiating Affordable Care Act negotiations from the middle, which automatically meant a center-right policy would be the outcome as Republicans and Blue Dog Dems pulled policy rightward. If Bernie starts from the position of Medicare For All and ends up with a robust public option, I would be perfectly fine with that. That’s just one of myriad ways President Sanders could change this country for the better.

Some of you need to pull your heads from your asses and start thinking rationally about this man because he has an excellent shot at becoming the Democratic nominee and we can’t afford to be divided on November 3, 2020. He will need our help to make it across the finish line.

Better pay attention to Bernie’s running mate, because, considering the state of Sanders’ health, that person is more likely to take over the presidency.

Sooner rather than later.

In a Bernie Sanders administration, Bernie would instantly be ignored by the House Dems who have the responsibility of actually crafting legislation, and Bernie, looking to instigate his "marches" and torch-bearing protests, would be vetoing even Democratic-passed bills and calling the House members out for their "lack of purity". The Senate wouldn't give a crap what he thought at all. It would be a triangulated DC and the public would see he's a failed one-trick pony.

Bullshit. Nancy Pelosi isn’t going to craft a House agenda that’s not in sync with a Democratic President. Her and Bernie would work to get on the same page, as everything he’d hope to accomplish will start with Nancy.

Bernie would be a Democratic president? I'm sorry, I thought he was an Independent socialist?

If he won (God forbid), would Bernie even stay in the Democratic party? Would he have to?

[quote]Her and Bernie would work to get on the same page...

You know what you should work on?

R46, if you don't like my answer, then join me in doing everything within your power to prevent Bernie from becoming the nominee. Our country's future depends on it.

(besides, your argument assumes Bernie would win against Trump, and that's laughably false)

r53

Fuck you. Millions in this country need access to healthcare and Bernie is the only one with the progressive policy that will help the uninsured AND dismantle the broken corrupt private insurance system.

No gay person should oppose Medicare for All as we are among the most vulnerable, especially those of us of color who are far more likely to be uninsured.

Looks more likely now.

I doubt any gay person DOES oppose Medicare For All, really. But when you realize that Obama had to remove the single-payer option to get the ACA passed, you should be able to deduce that M4A is not going to be a slam dunk if Sanders or Warren winds up in the WH. On the contrary, it will take multiple steps and health care bills to get there. And even the first step will only happen if the Democrats take the Senate and keep the House.

I'm not sure which I would look forward to more: Lady Jane for FLOTUS or Nina Turner for chief of staff?

I would never vote for Bernie because he’s not a Democrat.

[quote]Millions in this country need access to healthcare and Bernie is the only one with the progressive policy that will help the uninsured AND dismantle the broken corrupt private insurance system.

R54, the first phrase is true. Millions in this country need access to healthcare. This is true.

But it's laughable to suggest that Bernie could make that happen. He's NEVER made anything major happen. He has absolutely no skills in building the kind of coalitions required to get something like that accomplished. He has shown zero interest in helping Democrats actually win back the Senate, which would also be required. Further, his plans are not only the least likely to pass, but also the least likely to actually succeed or be that popular or be sustainable.

This bizzare belief that Sanders supporters has that he has some kind of magic wand he can just wave and make everything he talks about come true is so WEIRD. There's no evidence. We barely got the ACA passed, and the GOP has spent a decade trying to repeal it, and successfully sabotaged it, and packed the courts with judges who will rule against it.

And you think a pure M4A single-payer system that completely abolishes the ONE TRILLION DOLLARE health insurance industry is going to pass just like that?

What planet are you living on?

EVERY other candidate has plans that are more likely to pass, more likely to be accepted by most Americans, more likely to be successful... and most all of them have more experience getting big plans passed.

Bernie is an unaccomplished mediocre old white guy who failed up, and figured out how to grift his way to three houses and millions in income.

R59, and what's also amazing is that many of my friends who would be categorized as POC social justice warriors are all HUGE Bernie Sanders fans. They really think he's this great guy who can pass all these plans that will be favorable towards "the working class" and he is only out for the little guy. They think he will be able to end American imperialism and he is everything Obama will never be. They are as dumb as Trump's "make america great" fanatics. At least those people are derided in the media. The same thing should be happening with these Bernie supporters who think he is he messiah.

r60, I've long considered Bernie's most fervent "Bernie bro" supporters to be just the flip side of Trump's Deblorables.

Given enough power, I think they could be just as destructive too.

R61, completely agreed. If he becomes president, I will be very worried.

Put down the crack pipe folks!

It's gonna be Biden!

A Sanders presidency would probably look similar to this.

NO to Bernie as president. He would probably pick that cunt Nina Turner as his VP and then he would go and die during his term, and then guess what we would be left with?...

KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!

I think he’d pick Warren as his VP, serve only one term and then hand the reigns over to her.

My only issue with somen like Bernie is that argument about perfect is the enemy of good. During the debate, they asked Bernie if he'd vote for the USMCA. he said no because it didn't offer enough worker protection (I'm trying to remember) or address climate change. I'm personally against the USMCA for political reasons, but I think the press need Bernie to clarify what compromise means. A president, unlike a backbencher senator, can't work in an all or nothing world. Bernie has compromised on many bills, but I'd like to get into his mindset as a President to understand how the give and take would work in his admin. All of the other candidates seem like they can take the good with the bad, Bernie sounds very rigid. President's spend more time reactive to situations, which makes a rigid mindset at odds with the job.

Good point R67 about Bernie’s all-or-nothing economic policy. He has, however, said dems should be more open to supporting anti-abortion candidates — he’s certainly willing to compromise on women’s rights.

R68, he's always willing to compromise away anything that doesn't affect straight white men directly.

Bernie is not a Democrat.

Neither is Michael Bloomberg, yet here we are.

r70

Stop with that BS. He's the most liberal candidate in the race, and most liberal candidate who has run for a very long time.

R72 Bernie’s not a Democrat.

r72 Communists are also liberal, I'm sure they don't get an auto-invite to the Democratic Party.

R72, it's not B.S., and no, "Bomber Bernie" aka "NRA Berne" aka "Dump toxic waste on poor minority communities" aka "lack of sex causes cervical cancer" is not the most liberal guy. Or even close. He's an intellectually dishonest empty suit, a populist demagogue, a casually racist & blatantly sexist grifting fraud.

And you're a sucker for falling for his empty words.

Oooh, and I forgot how he agress with Lou Dobbs on immigration.

Liberal my ass.

The thought of AOC having an even bigger platform to run her mouth is terrifying. I'm telling you now, if this idiot manages to win the White House Democrats won't win for over a decade afterward, just like Carter.

[quote]Stop with that BS. He's the most liberal candidate in the race, and most liberal candidate who has run for a very long time.

You mean a communist, one who literally honeymooned in the Soviet Union nude on video. The one who touted Venezuela's government for decades. There's liberal and then there's straight up lunacy.

Anyone who runs on giving prisoners the right to vote while incarcerated deserves to be placed in a padded cell.

R10 Why are you shocked that socialists claim Venezuela wasn't real socialism? They say the same thing about Russia, about China, about Vietnam and Cambodia, about North Korea, and so on. They claim that every single country that actually employs socialism isn't real socialism because there has never been a case of socialism actually working and being a positive governmental force in history. Pretending like those countries didn't employ real socialism lets them tap dance around the proven reality that socialism doesn't work. They see it put into practice, they watch it fail and make the country fall into disarray, so instead of admitting they've been proven wrong they just change and mold the definition of socialism at will, as if it's play-doh. It's a known tactic of crazy communists: if you get proven wrong, change around definitions. Stalin did it, Mussolini did it, Pol Pot did it, and Mao did it.

A Bernie Administration -- assuming it could ever get elected, which it couldn't -- would be a complete dumpster fire.

I don’t understand how a Bernie presidency would be that much different from a Joe Biden presidency. What the hell is so bad that you people think he’s going to do?

R82 Biden's also a terrible choice, but for a different reason. Biden's a terrible choice because he's practically a republican and he's a bumbling idiot. Bernie's a terrible choice because he'd ruin the country's economy even further and do nothing but instill more division in a country that's already one bad day away from civil war.

r83 this is why I'm solidly in the Warren camp. Pete and Biden are the same old moderate Dem dog and pony show. Bernie is too rigid in his stances. Warren offers a more realistic left leaning progressivism. But she really shines when she talks about corruption. She's the master of that topic and really understands the rot in our government. Her 2 cent wealth tax may never get off the ground, but if she can tackle some of this corruption, I'll be satisfied.

How is Bernie Sanders going to ruin the economy? How is he going to make America even more divided than it is today? And how is Elizabeth Warren more realistic in her progressivism than Bernie? You guys are throwing out all kinds of bullshit without backing it up.

R85 Bernie has a boatload or plans for free things financed by the government. Free college, free healthcare, free housing. He has no idea how to realistically pay for any of this and the suggestions he's put out there would royally fuck the treasury. He's going to make America even more divided than it is today with his extremism and socialist leanings, and Warren is more realistic in her progressivism than him because her plans for taking on the financial corruption, classism, etc of our current government actually have legs.

R75, He reminds me of Sean Penn.

Warren has no chance of ever becoming elected. Bernie and Biden are the only ones who come close and will fail. Pete would make a terrific VP.

R88, assuming Biden doesn't have dementia/have a heart attack, I do think he will win (for now). And Pete would be his best choice for a VP. I'm just glad Kamala isn't running anymore.

A Borscht Belt version of Enver Hoxha.

He is the only one I think could destroy Trump onstage (though Trump would never debate him). Whoever is the primary winner has to study Bernie's knowledge, delivery, pragmatism and balls to drown-out MAGA. Systematically and categorically deconstruct Trump's lies (no you aren't responsible for the economic recovery, liar).

Read Dotard to filth with facts and they will win.

R86 you realize that Bernie would be President and not king, right? His plans will have to be crafted and shaped into something that garners enough votes in the House and somehow passes the senate. And you certainly are brimming with hyperbole, aren’t you? Bankrupt the treasury? Give me a break.

Bernie is a sick old man. He recently had a heart attack in his 70's. That shit is alarming! Hillary fainted from heat and the flu - and got murdered in the media- yet this piece of shit gets a pass?? Fuck Bernie!

R82, are you just daft?

First, Bernie has no coat-tails and no support of people of color. There's no way we'd take back the Senate if he were the Dem nominee. Even if he did win, he'd be unable to get anything done. HE has no CLUE how to work with others to get things done. He's all yelly, divisive, and "my way or the highway".

Biden is fully supported by people of color and has long coat-tails. We'd take back the senate with him, and thus would be able to get things passed. FURTHER, Biden is very skilled at the art of negotiation and building coalitions to get things done.

How can you not see how vastly superior Biden would be than that cranky old fraud Bernie?

I'm not even a Biden fan, and I can see this. It's so blindingly obvious. What the fuck is wrong with you?

R89, how are you so fucking stupid you can't see the obvious?

Sorry, that was meant for R85. Dammit. Sorry R89.

R91, did you just say that Bernie has 'prgamatism'?!?

#Delusional

This is a great essay:

Vote for Bernie? Why Not Just Write In Santa Claus?

At least St. Nick isn't a Useful Idiot for Putin.

Pete would be a terrible choice for Biden's VP; he gives Biden nothing, he wouldn't even win his home state of Indiana.

[QUOTE] What the fuck is wrong with you?

I’m the one who should be asking that question, R94. Bernie does have support among people of color. He’s actually leading among Latinos, who are boosting him in pivotal states like California and Nevada, and he’s second only to Biden in black support nationwide. In fact Sanders has been climbing in the polls of South Carolina due to his growing strength among African-Americans. A new one has him only seven points behind Biden. If you can tell such bald faced lies about that, then it speaks ill as to the truthfulness of the rest of your hyperbolic post.

Some of you are practically turning me into a Bernie Bro. You’ve got to stop the madness and accept that this man could very damn well become the Democratic nominee. Get that hate out of your blood because you might have to support him.

[quote]Bernie does have support among people of color

Not any smart ones. Not any that have done their homework. Not any that actually care about their civil rights or ending systemic racism.

Bernie sanders is a fucking racist and sexist/misogynist, and if you can't see that, you're fucking willfully blind and have drank too much kool-aid.

Bernie Sanders is also NOT a Democrat and he's not going to fucking win the nomination, and if he does, this country is over as he'll lose in a landslide to Trump. A choice between Bernie and Trump -- two sides of the same goddamned white populist demagogue coin -- is no choice at all. They're both too old and both will die in office.

I will never support him. Just like I will never support Trump. For many of the exact same reasons.

I cannot fathom why so many people are so fucking ignorant and gullible that they fall for these charlatans, these frauds, these assholes with no leadership or character. Fuck anyone who supports this creepy old unaccomplished mediocre old fraud.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you that you'd choose Bernie over any of the other far more accomplished candidates? Maybe pick one that isn't a sexist, racist asshole that attacks and wants to destroy the party he's running to be leader of, and who didn't actively help Trump win last time.

Jesus.

Yeah, "Bernie is second"... let's go to the stats, shall we?

Black voters:

Biden 53

Sanders 15

Warren 11

Bloomberg 4

Buttigieg/Booker/Yang 2

Castro/Bennet/Gabbard/Klobuchar/Patrick 1

That's a hell of a DISTANT second. But let's not "listen to black people" or "vote like black people"... let's try to USE them to prop up an old white guy who centers straight white men in all things and who dismisses issues important to black people (and women and gays) as "distractions".

He would make Jimmy Carter look like a conservative.

R102, according to Bernie/AOC and their supporters, EVERYTHING is about class. Everything. Everything else plays second fiddle.

This is the mindset of Bernie supporters. They literally are the flip side of deplorables.

It's a cult.

R61, Bernie voters are majority female.

No. They're not. They're majority white dudes. See any Bernie Rally photo.

[QUOTE] He would make Jimmy Carter look like a conservative.

Jimmy Carter voted for Bernie in 2016, R103.

Wow!