Bernie Sanders is playing a dangerous game. If he and his campaign continue their scorched-earth attacks against the Democratic Party, they will succeed in only one thing: electing Donald Trump as president.
That is the first paragraph of Robinson’s Washington Post column today, one titled Sanders’s scorched-earth campaign is a gift to Trump, written by a person whose next words are that he shares much of Sanders’s political philosophy, including seeing health care as a right, and who acknowledged the remarkable campaign run by the Senator from Vermont.
But consider that description: scorched-earth attacks and his warning that the result could well elect Trump.
There are others who have written on the apparent willingness of the Sanders campaign to hurt Clinton in the attempt to win California, even while avowing a commitment to defeat Trump. But Robinson puts it bluntly: for all his campaign has done, including having brought so many young people into the process,
But he hasn’t won the nomination.
And the reason is simple:
The will of the party is clear: More Democrats prefer Clinton over Sanders as their nominee.
And then the Pulitzer winner for commentary puts it in a way that I am sure will bring some loud protests:
Instead of accepting this obvious fact, the Sanders campaign is behaving like a 2-year-old who can’t have ice cream for breakfast. All along, Sanders and his aides have claimed that the party establishment was unfairly tipping the scales in favor of Clinton. Now the Sanders people have gone further and are deliberately stoking anger and a sense of grievance — less against Clinton than the party itself. This is reckless in the extreme, and it could put Trump in the White House.
Robinson offers a serious warning:
This is reckless in the extreme, and it could put Trump in the White House.
