Huffington Post

Bernie Sanders Eyes ‘Bigger’ 2020 Presidential Run Despite Some Warning Signs

The Vermont senator has indicated he would step aside if another candidate with a better shot at beating Donald Trump should emerge.

Burlington, VT (AP)

“A final decision has not been made, but those closest to the 77-year-old self-described democratic socialist suggest that neither age nor interest from a glut of progressive presidential prospects would dissuade him from undertaking a second shot at the presidency. And as Sanders’ brain trust gathered for a retreat in Vermont over the weekend, some spoke openly about a 2020 White House bid as if it was almost a foregone conclusion."

“Perhaps the most important member of Sanders’ network, wife Jane O’Meara Sanders, said Democrats may be embracing Sanders’ “bold progressive ideas” on health care and the economy in some cases, but there’s need to go further on issues like climate change, affordable housing and student debt.

"Whether her husband will lead the debate as a presidential candidate in 2020, she said, remains unclear. O’Meara Sanders noted that one question above all others would guide their decision: 'Who can beat Donald Trump?’"

“That has to be the primary goal. To win. We think you win by a very strong progressive commitment,” she told AP. When asked if Sanders could win in 2020, she said “every single poll” showed that Sanders would have beaten Republican nominee Donald Trump two years ago.” 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-potential-2020-presidential-run_us_5c053060e4b0606a15b765f1  

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ASIDE from the fact that polls opining a prediction that Sander’s would have beaten Trump in 2016, had they faced off, is absurdly pie in the sky retrodiction without basis of factual assessment. Cornel West’s concession “that none of the 2020 candidates” ‘have as much baggage’ as Clinton did’ is standard Bernie-on-fire rhetoric that ignores the Wiki–Russian–Trump conspiracy and far-left entrainment via decades of right-wing subterfuge that induced an equivalency between the Donald and Hillary. 

What I want to know – though I’m pretty sure I know already … Is Bernie going to man up, take the revolutionary bull by the horns and run as an Independent? The 2016 insurgency candidate was by choice, not by DNC diktat. “Our Revolution” should not be defined by who you caucus with, but by who you are. 

— Carl