The coronavirus crisis understandably dominates people’s minds these days. But in terms of the long-term health of the nation, the most important crisis facing the United States involves whether Donald Trump will continue to wield the powers of the presidency or will be replaced through the election this November.
It is now crystal clear that replacing Donald Trump means electing Joe Biden. Everyone can see that the nominating process is effectively over now.
And it’s not so much because his lead in delegates is “insurmountable,” as the pundits repeatedly say. It’s because there’s absolutely no reason to believe that the Democratic electorate that has yet to be heard from is any different from the electorate in those many states that have given Biden overwhelming victories over the past three Tuesdays.
Bernie Sanders must therefore know for a virtual certainty that he will not be the nominee. Combining that knowledge with what Bernie has so often said about the absolute necessity of defeating Donald Trump in November, it would seem incontrovertible that the question for Senator Sanders must be: “What can I do now that maximizes the chances of the Democratic nominee winning the upcoming presidential election?”
Part of the answer is obvious: he should act now to maximize the unity of the Democratic Party behind its nominee, which includes doing everything he can to persuade those who supported his candidacy to rally behind Joe Biden as powerfully as possible. (Which means persuading as many as possible to go to the polls to vote for Biden in November, and as many as possible to work for Biden’s victory between now and then.)
For that purpose, Bernie should deliver a speech as soon as possible
throwing his support to Biden, acknowledging with respect the decision of the Democratic electorate on whom to send into the field to do political battle against Donald Trump for the office of the presidency; explaining as movingly as possible why it is essential to the future of America that the powers of the presidency be taken out of the hands of this dangerous President; explaining also why Biden will be far, far better than Trump on all the issues that have been central to his own campaign (health care, climate change, the plutocracy, etc.); and concluding by imploring all his followers to rally around their common cause, with Joe Biden as their standard bearer.One particular possible way for Bernie to help solidify the unity of the Democratic Party for this fall’s contest would be to send a message to those voters in states that have yet to hold their primaries.
(Granted that it is uncertain — because of the coronavirus — just what will happen with those primaries. If the requirements of “social distancing” end up meaning that the primaries should be cancelled, Bernie’s conceding the nomination now could help facilitate that cancellation.)
If those primaries do go forward, he could say to those who had planned to vote for him:
“It is of vital importance — for everything we believe in — to unify for the purpose of defeating Donald Trump. So, now that we know that Joe Biden will be our nominee, I would like to ask those who have been planning to vote for me to go to the polls and instead demonstrate our unity by voting instead for Joe Biden.
Let us use the remaining primaries, therefore, to execute a grassroots kind of nomination by acclamation.”
In 2016, the nomination of Hillary Clinton had already become a fait accompli by very early May. Bernie Sanders nonetheless continued to wage a fight all the way up to and into the Democratic Convention in late June. I hope that Bernie realizes that this was the biggest, most consequential mistake of his political career. That unnecessary perpetuation of division — in a presidential race decided so narrowly as that race was (with only tens of thousands of votes giving Trump three crucial states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin) — could very well have been decisive in bringing about this disastrous Trump presidency.
I hope that Bernie regrets his decision to continue the battle when it was lost then. In any event, life has given him an extraordinary chance for a do-over.
We can’t undo the results of 2016. But Bernie can exert himself now to make sure that 2020 turns out differently.