You can’t “Feel the Bern” and “Make America Great Again” at the same time

Could there actually be a time when a Democrat votes for Donald Trump or a Trump supporter voting for a Democrat?

A recent article suggests there is indeed a connection between Trump and Sanders voters. According to the new Republic, 20 percent of Democrats would be comfortable voting for Trump. Additionally, other voters say that Sen. Bernie Sanders is their first choice, with Trump being their second to hold the nation’s highest office.

Now, when it comes to this party-crossover effect between Sanders and Trump, it honestly doesn’t make any logical sense and voters need to recognize this.

The only thing Trump and Sanders have in common is their anti-establishment standings. For many Americans who are fed up with the political status quo, it makes sense that these two candidates appeal to so much to people. With Trump running as a Republican, conservatives have real hope of completely overturning the party establishment that has been struggling since 2012 to maintain control of the rest of the party. Sanders offers liberals some very progressive ideas that are not coming from the Democratic establishment.

So, both candidates are appealing to their party’s demand for radical change. This makes sense. But what doesn’t make sense is the cross-party appeal that these candidates have.

Anyone who buys into Trump’s empty slogan of “Make America great again” and his messages of racism, exclusionism, and self-aggrandizing attitude, should not support Sanders as well.

This works in reverse as well. Anyone who believes Sanders’ populist rhetoric about supporting working class families over the interests of the billionaire class should not support Trump either. In fact, Trump is part of the very group of people Sanders rails against as having too much influence in American politics today. Trump’s campaign proves Sanders right when it comes to the power of money since Trump is fueling his campaign by spending his own money.

Safe to say, you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) be “feeling the Bern” while also wanting to “make America great again” through the good ol’ Donald Trump businessman way.

While America and voters may be looking for change, they do need to understand what sort of change they’re buying into. In my humble opinion, Trump is promising some sort of nativist, intolerant, “screw-you” capitalism, while Sanders is showcasing a costly socialist agenda that is uncertain to actually get accomplished. Both are political outsiders, but that’s where the similarities end.

If Americans are looking for change, they shouldn’t be this bipolar about it. Honestly, if a single voter is willing to vote for both extremes, then there is something clearly wrong with their understanding of politics and the political system. Worse yet is when a large number of voters does this. Voters need to understand that what Trump and Sanders are promising (outside of “radical change”) are vastly different things. You cannot have both.

In fact, picking both will only cause more problems. When you pick the candidates that are polar opposites of one another, you hollow out of the center of American politics. And when you hollow out the center, you lose the ability to compromise. You lose common ground with which to work with each other. You only push things further to the extremes.

So, voters looking to support either Trump or Sanders, know that it’s either one or the other. You can’t have both.