Bernie Sanders Wins the Nevada Caucuses. Cue the Centrist Panic.

We’re only three states into what looks to be a long primary contest for the Democratic nomination for president, but with his win yesterday in the Nevada caucuses, Bernie Sanders has cemented himself as the current frontrunner for the nomination…and that has a lot of people just plain terrified.

The narrative has emerged that the “democratic establishment” does not like Sanders, given that he is not technically a Democrat and that the centrists will never vote for a nominee with such a blatantly progressive agenda. It’s not hyperbolic to say that more conservative dems are flat our terrified of Sanders. Just look at Chris Wallace on MSNBC ghoulishly comparing Sander’s win to the fall of France against the Nazis in 1940.

I had to watch this three times but this really is Chris Matthews comparing Bernie’s success to the Nazi’s defeating France. pic.twitter.com/AtJoSzEeW4

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) February 22, 2020

Now, I’ll give Matthews the benefit of the doubt here and assume he’s talking about how Biden’s campaign might be over when he seemed so inevitable before. But…comparing the win of a Jewish candidate to the nazis? Still very bad! But it’s just part of the widespread screaming from pundits who are suddenly reckoning with the possibility that primary voters want a truly progressive candidate.

Skeletor James Carville was beside himself as well, calling the Democrats stupid for this decision, and The Atlantic touted an opinion piece today claiming that the democratic “establishment” that is theoretically so against Sanders is “broken.” But…is it?

Is the fact that a truly progressive frontrunner has emerged really so bad? Combine the amount fo people who are supporting Sanders and those for Elizabeth Warren, who is running on similar progressive messages…and it becomes clear that democratic voters don’t want just an end to Trump, many of them want to truly see this country change.

And the idea that Sanders can’t beat Trump is something not borne out but current polling: Almost every head to head poll with Trump against Sander is a win for Sanders, by comfortable margins. The largest poll in recent months conducted by CBS News and YouGov, of 10,000 registered voters, 47% said they would vote for Sanders over Trump, who came it at 44%. And only 24% of respondents said they think the primary is pushing the party in a direction that’s “too liberal,” while 55% were fine with the direction of the party and 21% said it was pushing too conservative.

So, it would seem that “the establishment” is scared because a supposed outsider is winning the primaries…but that’s what people want. And a real progressive vision that will not only undo the damage Donald Trump has done to the country, but actually make America better (not great again, we were never great) is an agenda that can win.

Of course, as all the other candidates will point out, this race is far from over (though I would at this point recommend that Tulse find a better use for her time). The next contest on the horizon is South Carolina next Saturday. Until recently, forecasters were calling this generally more conservative state a safe bet for Joe Biden to take his first real win, as he had a pronounced lead in the polling there…but as of now FiveThirtyEight has Sanders projected to win, and RealClearPolitics also shows Sanders surging in the polls.

Expect the media and the other democrats to go hard against Sanders going forward. Being a front runner means having a target on your back. And of course, expect Donald Trump to turn his attacks towards Sanders even more now – there’s nothing that gets Trump’s attention like a real threat.

(via: FiveThirtyEight)

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