Is Sanders Getting Ready for 2020?

Bernie Sanders could be prepping for a 2020 challenge to Donald Trump, according to some sources associated with the Vermont Senator.

Sanders is looking to fix two areas of weakness identified during the 2016 campaign season. The first is his utter lack of knowledge or preparation in dealing with foreign policy issues. The second is working on outreach to the labor movement.

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Politico is reporting this morning that this could very well be groundwork for the 2020 campaign cycle, which will see an incumbent Donald Trump facing off against whatever the Democrats can throw at him.

Sanders has been working closely with figures who are close to the party establishment he’s long railed against, like American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. And he’s been meeting with international affairs experts such as Bill Perry, a defense secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton, around a series of speeches designed to define his international vision, one year after running a campaign heavy on domestic policy and light on the rest of the world.

The Vermont independent hasn’t decided whether to run for president again in 2020. To his closest allies, his efforts represent a natural next step in his role as “outreach chairman” for Senate Democrats, a new position created for him late last year by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Yet the maneuvers could form an important part of a Sanders 2020 effort, a dozen of those allies acknowledged to POLITICO — one that looks markedly different from his surprise 2016 bid, which often suffered from a lack of mainstream political support.

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From an objective stance, this is smart of Sanders if 2020 is in his sights. He got some solid grassroots support and was thwarted only by his own aforementioned weaknesses and his party establishment lining up against him.

But, objectively still, the Democrats would be foolish to let the Sanders Left dictate the party’s direction. One thing is very certain – the American public is not ready for full-blown socialism to take over Washington D.C.

Barack Obama wasn’t even a full-on socialist. He only half-heartedly went after socialist policies, and even then they were watered down. The plan was always to ease into it with Obama, but Sanders would represent the Democratic Party diving in head-first.

However, if I’m not being objective… by all means, Democrats, please let Bernie Sanders represent your party.

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