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SHORTLY AFTER DONALD Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, many people began musing over how a businessman with little knowledge of world affairs beat a well-established career politician.
And that was where the analysis started and ended – the reason he won was because he wasn’t a part of the establishment, and hadn’t spent his life tweaking his political stances in order to climb to the top of the political ladder, bemused analysts decided.
This led to a commonly-repeated theory that if the Democrats had chosen the socialist Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, as their candidate, then he would have beaten Donald Trump.
Although he’s affiliated with the Democratic party, Sanders is an independent candidate; he’s gathered a loyal following, particularly among young people, for his criticism of the Iraq war, his calls for banking reform and affordable healthcare, among others.
This would have made him the perfect alternative to Donald Trump, political pundits argued in hindsight.
Unsurprisingly, Bernie’s wife Dr Jane O’Meara Sanders, who also served as his policy and press adviser, agrees.
“He would have beaten Trump, because people vote for someone with ideas and a vision, rather than with somebody who is negative,” she said in an interview with TheJournal.ie ahead of a panel discussion in Cork next week.
We saw signs of [Trump's win] beforehand – but Trump was a pointed disruption rather than a different vision for the future.
“But that is water under the bridge, the next election we’re focusing on is to the US Senate. We’re campaigning all over the country for governors or Senators and government people, we can’t wait for the next presidential election to instigate change.
People need to vote in the midterms because they put in place checks and balances against the President.
The House of Representatives has a Republican majority of 54.9% to 45% ; in the Senate there’s a slim Republican majority of 51-49% (those percentages represent the voting share – there’s a certain portion of non-voting members in each party).
The elections to vote in members of both houses, called the Midterm elections, will be held in November. Democrats are hoping to regain control of the houses in order to limit the influence that the Trump administration has by block voting against legislation.
But what about the presidential election after that? With Donald Trump already talking about the next election as if it’s already been won, will Bernie Sanders run against him?
“He is considering it, he has not made a decision yet,” O’Meara Sanders says.
It’s not about him. It’s about making sure whoever runs can beat Donald Trump in 2020. It’s not about him, it’s about ‘How do we win?’
But would it be difficult to work with the Democrats again after they treated Sanders so unfairly at the Democratic National Convention last time round?
This August, the Democratic party voted to change the influence “superdelegates” had over nominating the parties candidates; in 2016, Hillary Clinton jumped forward into a huge lead, giving her a major advantage in the primary (which is like the US presidential semi-final that decide the two final presidential candidates).
They definitely had a favourite candidate, it was very hard to see it going in our favour – but to see it publicly was hard. Bernie said to me: ‘Jane, this is no surprise, we saw this coming. We need to keep fighting’.
It’s not a sore point anymore, the Democrats have changed some rules at the DNC so that it’s less likely to happen again, whether its for or against Bernie or other candidates.
She says that after November elections, mostly likely early next year, Sanders will decide if he’ll run for the office of US President.
So does O’Meara Sanders think Trump will get a second term?
“Some people have reached saturation at this point, some people are turning off. They don’t believe our media, which I don’t blame them for.
Some media are very even handed, but most are either anti-Trump or pro-Trump, and I think that’s turning people off the political process, and that’s not good for democracy.
“The people who are activists will vote in the Midterms. The way they are treating women in this country will motivate men and women to go to the polls and to vote. My concern is that they have not been able to be as involved in affecting change as we would like.”
Sanders Institute
O’Meara Sanders, who has Irish roots – in fact, a ancestry test she took indicated that she’s 96% Irish – is coming to Ireland in a week’s time to take part in a debate about ‘Re-Vitalising Democracy’.
The panel discussion, which will be moderated by David McWilliams, is being hosted by the Sanders Institute and the I.NY Festival, which is a project that celebrates the links between Ireland and New York.
So what’s her take on how we do that?
“Bold ideas and civil discourse, actions: I’ll mention some of that at the INY conference.
The rise of autocratic leaders around the world – it demands that people get involved. Democracy is not a given – we need to make sure people get involved.
She says that this is the kind of work that the Sanders Institute is involved in.
“What we’re trying to do is to engage individuals and organisations, to address issues that affect ordinary Americans’ lives rather than the latest scandal or the latest gossip.”
We’re not going to be talking politics, or complaining the other side, we’re going to be talking about real solutions to real issues.
It is going to be conversations, we could get thousands of people and then propose policies, and then distribute this.
You see Seth Meyers on A Closer Look address serious political issues in a funny way, Robert Rice brings complex issues down to a five-minute video. That’s what we’re trying to do for people with political policies.
“And it’s not just talking to each other and then going – talking is just the start.
She mentions the calls for affordable healthcare in America and the rebuttal being how do you finance that.
“Stop paying for all those wars, is one argument, but it needs to be more specific.”
I.NY Festival 2018 is part of the Global Irish Festival Series and takes place at venues across Limerick City from 7-14 October. For tickets and information visit www.thisisINY.com
I.NY and The Sanders Institute ‘A Conversation on Democracy Now’ takes place on Monday 8 October at 8pm in The Lime Tree Theatre. Tickets priced from €5 – €20 from www.thisisINY.com
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The biggest mistake the democrats made was backing Hillary over Bernie.bernie has in spades what Clinton doesn’t have.. like ability .but the party were afraid to stand up and say no to a woman. They went down the PC route of picking a woman instead of picking the best candidate.
@Conor Noonan: Absolutely agree Conor. Bernie is at very least a like able human being. Hillary is an evil woman and the public knew what they were getting into with her, corporate power and corruption.
@Conor Noonan: They pushed the fact that she was a woman all right but Hillary was the Globalist/Corporatist candidate, the face of the ‘Deep State’ it would seem, she wasn’t elected because of that especially when they shafted Bernie.
@Conor Noonan: Bernie would have been a shoo in but the PC agenda won out.
@Conor Noonan: the Democrats had no chance but to back Hillary over Bernie. According to interim chairperson for the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile, Obama broke the party financially and Hilary’s money raising kept it afloat. She basically had the DNC in her pocket.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774
@JimmyMc: *no choice
@JimmyMc: absolutely true and it also helped in their minds that the person they shafted wasn’t really a democrat. As for the person saying the PC brigade won out, I thought the pc brigade were the socialists??
@Conor Noonan: where has this wonderful man been for years? Wasnt around in Clintons time and the peace process. He actually handed Trump the presidency for staying in too late. He hadn’t a hope in beating Hilary Clinton for the nomination. He didnt get his Democrat vote out for her. The rest is history
@Daniel Donovan: you must know these people personally to form that opinion.
Democrats have themselves to blame for not letting him run in 2016.
@Ross Fehily: True. I know quite a few people who preferred Bernie’s policies but voted for Hilary in the primaries because they thought she was more electable.
@Martello Mulligan: They were wrong.
@Frank McGlynn: not at all if you are following all that guff about Hilary Clinton. Actually Obama was the worst president because so much was expected of him and the only good thing he did was talk and he was good at that.
@John Nolan: actually Obama wasn’t that bad, he had mostly good intentions but almost everything he tried to achieve was blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
A Saunders presidency would have been a gamechanger. Showing America that socialism is not a dirty word, and can provide affordable healthcare, housing, education, and childcare for its citizens like in the nordics, would have eventually benefitted many more countries….ours included.
@The Risen: wots ur view on the public housing system, the HSE, free education and childcare in this country, we play loads in taxes and yet all these sectors are in disarray imho.
@Vote4Pedro: You give a good idea to FF or FG, they’ll mangle it through sheer incompetence. Our government is on a par with the Tories, they are who FG turned to for advice to win the last election and who knows what other advice they’ve taken from them. We can see them ham fisted mess the Tories are making of Brexit and our government are juggling a bunch of crises. It’s very obvious FG have as much of a clue how to run a country as the Tories do.
@Patrick Kearns: is Tory meant to have a negative connotation? You’re just throwing the word around as if once it’s said we should associate it with bad governance
@Vote4Pedro: free education? I have to pay money over to schools every year. HSE? Still pay private health insurance and when my son was taken to hospital via ambulance we were billed €100 for A&E and €60 every time we see a GP. I think these unofficial stealth taxes mean we pay double for these services, but the fighting Irish still just keep biting the pillow.
@Hellenize Dublin: Go take a look at the shambles that Brexit has turned in to and explain to the rest of us how “Tory” can be associated with anything but car crash governance. The only way anyone can have faith in the Tories or FG, given the dearth of evidence that points to sheer incompetence and corruption, is because they’re possessed of a blind faith on a par with religious fervour.
@Vote4Pedro: plus the people who work and pay receive nothing in return except more taxes.
I myself think if we in this country were to pay 100% tax all the public services in this country would be still be inefficient as waste and negligence go hand in hand with public money being spent. I don’t believe it matters who’s in power those who actually do the spending are inept and I don’t believe they care, if it was their own money I assume they’d spend it alot more wisely.
@Vote4Pedro: What proof is there that private business spends more wisely…? Private business cuts corners at every opportunity and you end up with the likes of Grenfell Tower and the Californian energy crisis. Neither one extreme or the other works in practice. What’s needed is a compromise somewhere, proper oversight with meaningful penalties for violations and waste.
@Patrick Kearns: you do realise Grenfell was a public building with renovation over seen and signed off by the council, namely the public sector.
@The Risen: The economies of the Nordic countries are all based on the principles of free market capitalism. Their generous social welfare systems exist due to this fact.
@Paul Fahey: And the contract was given to a private sector company.
@Will: The difference is the Nordic countries have politicians who are far more competent and honest.
@Patrick Kearns: That may be so but it is a falsity to refer to the Nordics as socialist countries. Social welfare and socialism are not the same thing.
@Vote4Pedro: I’d take the hse over the American health system any day of the week.
Same goes for our education system. For all its faults at least we don’t have to remortgage our house to go to hospital or send a kid to college or leave our kids with decades of college loan debt.
@Will: I’ve never called them socialist myself but they certainly seem to be a healthy mix of social and capitalist principles which the rest of the world would do well to emulate. I think that is Risen’s point? Pure socialism and pure capitalism don’t work as intended but a balance between the two turns out to be healthy and workable. Or at least the Scandinavian way, not the Chinese. The difference would be competent, honest politicians who actually give a care about their people.
@The Risen: what planet are you on when you mention socialism in a fundamentalist state called America. The dollar my good man is their reason for living and they do not want to share that with anyone. Who runs America? When you know the answer have a conversation with yourself
@Patrick Kearns: you clearly don’t know what a Tory is
@Hellenize Dublin: well now, if I don’t know what a Tory is, I sure as scheiss know a car crash when I see one!
A Tory is someone who believes their lofty station in society gives them a God given right to decide what’s best for everyone else. Because of this, they can do no wrong(no matter the evidence to the contrary) and everybody else is to be regarded as clueless and best viewed as deeply suspect. And why? For King/Queen and country.
Now if I’m wrong, how about you explain it from your point of view? If you do understand what a Tory is, that should be no bother to you.
If Bernie stands under the democratic party banner he will in effect be totally neutered to rein in the billionaire and wall street classes that own both parties in America not to mention deep state and their wars..the democrats will use him to attract younger voters with the promise of change and then it’ll be business as usual..much like the Obama con trick
@Moss Cotter: Still better than the Trump con trick.
@Squiddley Diddley: trump wasn’t a con trick it is obvious to anyone he is an obnoxious boor but he never pretended to be anything else..secretly the deep state are delighted with trump it’ll make their job of selling another hopey changey candidate to the public a lot easier
@Moss Cotter: He said he cared about blue collar Americans and about reforming the Washington/Wall St nexus. He said he’d hire “The best people”. He said he’d “make America great again”.etc etc….
@Squiddley Diddley: buy I certainly take uour point about Bernie being neutered.
Bernie is smart and sincere………Trump is basically anencephalic
Bernie would have won. Killary was a bad choice.
The biggest problem is Americans have a culturally programmed allergic reaction to the word “socialism”. They equate it with Soviet era communism and no amount of explanation can move them.
They see no spectrum or nuance in socialism just anathema to The American Way. I have met some very intelligent Americans who despise Trump but could never vote for a socialist because they cannot escape their own conditioning.
@David McShite: no, they equate it with people eating dogs, or other people even, in the most oil-rich nation on earth. Today.
“Not real communism / socialism”? Death, destruction, fascism. Every single time. Nobody is blinder to history than supporters of this crap. Capitalism does not exclude socialised programs but that’s different from socialism.
A bland and pathetic article questions could the democrats have done better if that had backed Saunders over the warmonger they opted for.I wish I had backed West ham yesterday to beat Man United but that’s life…no point in lamenting the ” what ifs”.
@Frank Dubogovik: Who knew critical thinking and mental exercise are a bad thing!? Pray we never look back at history to try and learn from our mistakes, what good ever came from that…
Imagining a Bernie presidency is an exercise in wishful thinking.
It’s unlikely that he would have fared any better than Mrs Clinton.
Had he gained the nomination, all the opprobrium that is now being visited on President Trump would have landed on Mr Sanders because the issue was not about the Democrats winning the White House, but the White House being occupied by a Clinton.
The scorched earth mentality of the Clinton Democrats that was evident then has become the central plank of all they do.
To me it is a nihilistic philosophy that is ultimately self defeating.
It will be interesting to see whether they will try and rehabilitate Mrs Clinton to try again for 2020, or whether the daughter will become the heiress apparent.
Either way, Bernie Sanders has had his day.
His age was a big disadvantage last time around so you’d have to think it’d be a bigger issue if he ran again. But then again if it came down to Sanders vs Trump who knows? Interesting days!
@I’m not wavy gravy: The thing with Trump is his VP, Mike Pence, is very probably by far much much worse. Whereas one can imagine that if Sanders were POTUS, his VP might surely be cut from the same cloth.
I sincerely hope Trump doesn’t get impeached til the last few weeks of this US presidential term… I think this may have been part of the reason for choosing Pence
Bernie Sanders against Ron Paul would have been quite the battle had they both run in 2012 and received nominations from their respective parties.
Bernie wouldn’t challenge Killary on the rigged votes, he lost because he is ball-less, he doesn’t deserve any consideration for any public office.
@NoneOfYourBusiness: The irony that you say that from an anonymous account so you’ll find a lot of us feel them same way about your post…
Useless conjecture
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