Democrats should stop attacking Bernie and start attacking Trump

Imagine if Democrats campaigned against the right person.

Imagine the February democratic primary debate. The Iowa caucuses are a mess. Vitrol between candidates is at an all time high. And Republicans are mocking Democrats for poor turnout and lukewarm candidates.

Democrats get on stage, and they get the first dramabait questions of the night. Questioning Bernie Sanders’ ability to pass healthcare, Pete Buttigieg’s experience, or Joe Biden’s ability to turn out votes.

But imagine, instead of the food fight we’ve seen so far, Democrats do something else.

Bernie Sanders talks about wanting Medicare for All, but he siphons I’m on why now compared to during the Obama administration. Bernie says that Trump’s efforts to remove Obamacare were fueled by an immensely complicated healthcare system. He explains that it’s complicated because we have to deal with private insurance. If we move toward Medicare for All, we can solve the problems that drove Donald Trump’s voters to the polls in 2016, and do what Donald Trump failed to do for four tumultuous years: finally give Americans affordable and quality healthcare.

Amy Klobuchar quips in. But instead of attacking Bernie’s Medicare for All, she talks about what else Trump failed on: prescription drugs. As a Senator, Klobuchar says, she worked on bills to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Trump claims he wants to lower those costs too, but he’s let Mitch McConnell sit on those bills and do nothing with them. Under Trump, Americans are suffering from the high cost of live-saving medications, and Trump doesn’t care enough to get anything done about it. Her proposals for prescription drug affordability will fix that.

The moderators, surprised that Bernie’s Medicare For All went unchallenged, then ask Pete about his “Medicare for all who want it”, hoping to stir a fight.

Instead, Pete talks about what Donald Trump has failed to do about the oppiod crisis. In 2016, Trump made fun of New Hampshire and called it a “drug infested den”. Today, New Hampshire still suffers from drug abuse, and Trump has let people die from it. His plans to fight the opioid crisis have gone nowhere, because he doesn’t care. Pete then claims his plan to decriminalize drugs and treat drug abuse as a health issue rather than a criminal issue will save lives, something Donald Trump just doesn’t care enough to do.

The trend goes on.

This imaginary Democratic debate will likely never happen. Most takeaways from these debates are that Democrats are fighting over who has the better healthcare plan, the better background, or the better resume. And while Democrats cannibalize over each other’s strengths, Donald Trump is cruising around with a strong economic argument. One that Democrats haven’t touched.

If Democrats decided to sharpen their arguments and aim them at the specific failures of Donald Trump, that would be the major headline. Instead of the media feasting over supposed disputes between Bernie, Pete, and Klobuchar, they would be asking if Bernie’s, Pete’s, or Klobuchar’s claims against Trump pan out or not.

A real Democratic primary doesn’t just pick the nominee. It sets the stage for how the battle will be fought against Trump and his army of misinformation.

Democrats uniting in a common platform to dismantle Trump’s re-campaign arguments would be the most efficient way to make sure, when the nominee reaches the Democratic National Convention in the summer, they have an informed and fire up electorate armed with the arguments they need to convince Americans that a Democrat is a better alternative than Trump.

…

But instead, we have hundreds of articles saying Bernie Sanders would lose if he becomes the nominee.

Oh well.