Opinion: Dems can’t threaten Trump yet
February 25, 2020
The upcoming election this year is going to suck.
You cannot convince me otherwise because there is no way, in my mind, that the U.S. citizens win.
After reading that overwhelming optimism, you may wonder why I say such a thing because there are good candidates, in your mind, that are in the field still.
Sure there are; there always are (hopefully), but when we compare the candidates from the Democratic party to President Donald Trump, the chance for the Democratic candidate winning seems too small to conquer Trump.
I mean, who really could threaten Trump’s position? Unfortunately, it does not look like anyone right now.
Elizabeth Warren had a lot of hype and steam coming into the caucuses and primaries, but she is not getting good results. Hell, Amy Klobuchar received more than double the percentage of votes Warren did in the New Hampshire primary, according to the Associated Press.
Joe Biden seems attractive to some because he was Obama’s right-hand man, but he has not done well either, which is crazy because Warren and Biden were thought to be the ones who would go head-to-head. Biden did come second in Nevada, but was still 20 percentage points behind Bernie Sanders.
Pete Buttigieg may or may not have won the Iowa caucus, but since then he has not come first again (did well in New Hampshire, though barely second to Sanders).
Klobuchar, I cannot say much about; she seems to just be hanging around really.
That leaves Sanders, and right now, America is feeling the burn; no, not heart burn from Colonel Sanders’ chicken, the Bernie burn, where they support what he is saying.
The man who has won two straight primaries and has all the momentum.
But is Sanders really going to be able to challenge Trump?
I doubt it.
Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in big part, arguably, due to the fact that he was loud and made the “highlight plays.” Clinton could be talking and Trump would just interrupt and say something meme-worthy.
Remember “nasty woman” or “You’d be in jail” or any other thing he said, really. Trump got popular with voters because he spoke his mind with no filter and was brash and loud, which is easy to grasp for people.
He played off people’s fears, saying Islamic people are bad and Mexicans coming into the U.S. are criminals.
If Sanders meets Trump, Trump is going to attack him the same way: Trump will say Sanders is proposing socialism and hit home with an older demographic who was scared of socialism in the last decade.
Sanders does not have as big a voice as Trump, so Trump could easily interrupt Sanders at will during debates.
Even though Sanders is really taking it to his field of competition, him winning the Democratic ticket does not threaten Trump as much as you may think (right now, something could happen of course in the future).
And with the way the rest of the Democratic field is jumbled and falling behind (regarding Nevada results), Trump has to feel pretty good about his position.
Dillan Schorfheide is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at dtschorfheide@eiu.edu.