Op-Ed

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks to reporters before attending the Senate impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 29, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Dick Morris: Bernie May Win the Democratic Primary, But He Can't Beat Trump

By Dick Morris January 29, 2020 at 6:40pm

As Paul Eldridge wrote in “Maxims for a Modern Man,” ‘All things are impossible until they happen, and then they become inevitable.”

And that’s where things now stand with Bernie Sanders’ quixotic candidacy for president.

He is propelled not by a campaign but by a social and political movement.

It’s a movement that has the power to take over the Democratic Party, but not — thank God — enough to take over the country.

Social movements are hard to stop.

The anti-Vietnam War drive did not end until the war did and the Democratic Party lay in ruins.

The anti-Iraq War movement led directly to the Obama presidency.

The Me Too Movement is sweeping all before it.

Biden can’t stop Bernie.

Do you think Bernie Sanders will win the Democratic nomination?

Sanders will sweep Iowa and New Hampshire at least. He could win Nevada but will stumble in South Carolina. A recent Berkeley IGS poll showed Sanders ahead in California with 26 percent of the vote with Warren at 20 and Biden at 15.

This means that the Bernie contagion is spreading throughout the Super Tuesday states that will decide the contest just a month hence.

And the Democrats have no antidote. Obama will do his duty and stand up against Sanders. That should win things in South Carolina but not in the other Super Tuesday states. The Obama social movement of old will not be able to stop the new Bernie one.

And the party will rue the day that it gave up superdelegates in a bow to party democracy.

Without its ballast, the party has no way to right its ship.

And, a Sanders nomination will destroy — utterly destroy — the Democratic chances for 2020. It will cost them the House and the Senate and God knows how many state legislative seats and governorships.

So the Republicans will have the edge in House races all decade long.

It couldn’t happen to a better party.

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Tags:

2020 election, American left, Bernie Sanders, Democratic primary, Democrats, Donald Trump

Dick Morris

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Dick Morris is a former adviser to President Bill Clinton as well as a political author, pollster and consultant. His most recent book, "50 Shades of Politics," was written with his wife, Eileen McGann.