Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:02 pm
While Hillary Clinton is busily recruiting Republicans disaffected by Donald Trump’s takeover of their party, Donald Trump is trying to recruit Bernie Sanders voters. The logic of the appeal? Less easy to understand.
According to Trump, Bernie’s followers should vote for him to “get even with” Clinton, apparently for the sin of winning, because that’s how things work in Trump’s warped mind. Never mind Sanders having already warned Trump his supporters will never vote for him.
Speaking from Briarcliff Manor, New York, Trump turned to a familiar refrain, saying Sanders supporters had been “left out in the cold by a rigged systemâ€:
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To all those Bernie Sanders voters who have been left out in the cold by a rigged system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms.
“We can’t solve our problems by counting on the politicians who created our problems. The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves.â€
That’s rich, if you’ll pardon me saying so, coming from a guy who has rigged a system of bankruptcy, real estate, and tax shelter laws to benefit himself and devil take the hindmost. Which is everybody but Donald Trump.
He told the crowd that Sanders was right about unfair trade deals and promised they’d get better results by backing him, saying it’s what he does: “We are going to have fantastic trade deals.” Apparently, this is supposed to make Sanders’ idealistic young supporters forget about his racism and misogyny.
What is unlikely is that Sanders supporters will forget another rigged system, and one Donald Trump wholeheartedly supports, that keeps women and minorities “out in the cold.”
The reality star also sent a flurry of tweets out Wednesday, some self-celebratory, others attacks on Morning Joe for not worshiping at his feet, and this tweet directed at Sanders’ supporters:
"@southpaw816: @SenSanders fans, greatest way to get even with her Highness – vote for @realDonaldTrump, at least you'll have a job.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2016
Yes. They can have jobs. Making his clothes. But they’ll have to emigrate to China or Mexico to get it.
As evening fell, Trump sent another tweet, again aimed at stoking resentment among Bernie’s followers for Clinton:
Bernie Sanders must really dislike Crooked Hillary after the way she played him. Many of his supporters, because of trade, will come to me.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2016
As pitches go, Trump’s leaves something to be desired. Trump thinks his trade pitch trumps his hate – messages of misogyny and racism, of deporting millions while barring millions of others from entering, supporting legislation that attacks women’s reproductive rights and violating First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of religion.
Democratic strategist Robert Weiner said,
“I think there’ll be enough of the volatile Trump that kids will want to vote the other way. I think there’ll be a protest vote against what Trump represents and then the only choice there is Hillary.â€
Let us be blunt: It is difficult to understand a world where the answer to opposition to Hillary Clinton is Donald Trump.
There are no doubt Sanders supporters who will not support Hillary Clinton when the time comes. And worse, not only not vote for Hillary but vote for Trump. The Atlantic says they found one, though polls suggest the majority of millennials among them will back Clinton.
There are probably very few who will vote for the man who is the complete antithesis of Bernie Sanders, the man who stands for everything Sanders is against: Oligarch-in-chief Donald J. Trump. The reality is usually at some variance with Trump’s fantasies.
Trump wants to draw parallels between them, but all he can find in common is trade. Such vague allusions probably work with the crowd he is used to dealing with, people who feel more than they think. He will no doubt find that this is less effective with people who like some facts with their arguments, and who really, really dislike the oligarchy Trump represents.
Just wait though. You know it’s coming: that moment when Donald J. Trump announces to the world, “Sanders’ followers love me!”
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
