Republicans Should Not Root for a Sanders Nomination

The 2019 general election in the United Kingdom was a spectacle to behold. On one side was the leader of the Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, a 70-year-old lifelong socialist who has heaped praise on Fidel Castro and has served as a portent—and beneficiary—of the rise of antisemitism in his own party. On the other side  was Boris Johnson, a blonde, rotund gaffe machine whose political career has been hampered by his own sexual indiscretions, but who nevertheless successfully harnessed a populist wave to win the prime ministership of his country.

Does any of this sound familiar?

If present trends persist (always a dubious proposition) the 2020 presidential race in the United States promises to be a spectacle in its own right. On one side—most likely, at this point—will be Bernie Sanders, a 78-year-old lifelong socialist who has praised Fidel Castro and enjoys the support of the anti-semetic fringe of the American left. His opponent will be Donald Trump, a portly blond whose propensity for gaffes is exceeded only by his sexual impropriety, and who rode a populist wave to the White House in 2016.

I am not the first to point out the striking similarities between these four figures. However, the story does not end here.

In 2019, Boris Johnson’s Conservative and Unionist Party secured a previously unimaginable 365 seat majority in the British Parliament, flipping numerous traditionally labor seats in the process. The electoral collapse of the Labor party was largely precipitated by its decision to make Jeremy Corbyn its leader, but was magnified by Boris Johnson’s abandonment of the fiscal responsibility that had characterized his party under its last two leaders and pledged to spend ungodly sums of money on public services and environmental initiatives.

Many Republicans are excited by the prospect of a Sanders nomination. Sanders, they insist, is so radical and unappealing that there is no way Trump can lose to him. Indeed, many insist that if the Democratic Party nominates Sanders, Trump’s margin of victory will be similar to Ronald Reagan’s in the 1984 election.

Of course, Walter Mondale only won one state in 1984. Which reliably blue state is Trump going to win? New York? California? Massachusetts? To those Republicans that think running against Sanders will guarantee Trump an electoral landslide, bear in mind that it is always possible for the nominee of one of the two major parties to win the White House.

Further, consider for a moment what Trump might do to defeat Sanders. Is a 40 state majority worth watching the Republican Party pledge billions of dollars worth of spending on infrastructure and paid family leave? Is it worth seeing a Republican President endorse a healthcare scheme essentially similar to ObamaCare? At least Johnson sacrificed his party’s principles on the altar of Brexit, what epochal victory can conservatives look forward to from four more years of the Trump presidency?

The fact of the matter is that a Sanders nomination could destroy the character of the Republican Party (at least what remains of it) just as easily as a Sanders presidency could destroy the character of the nation. Some Republicans are willing to take this risk; I look forward to saying “I told you so” when I see them on a bread line.