Bernie Sanders: Kingmaker

Bernie Sanders isn’t the Democrats’ presidential heir apparent; he’s their coming kingmaker. The Democrats’ discredited establishment and glaring need to counter Republicans’ rising populist wave argue for it. The Democrats’ continuing leftward lurch calls for it. Finally, the Democrats’ historical precedent presages it.

If not a king, then a kingmaker

After Democrats pushed Joe Biden off their ticket and made an issue of Donald Trump’s age, they preemptively disqualified Sanders as well. Trump is 78. Sanders is already 83. Two birds, one stone.

Yet if Sanders can no longer be king himself, he is perfectly positioned to be kingmaker. As such, he fits the role William Jennings Bryan played for Democrats over a century ago. 

In 1912, Bryan was a former presidential contender who had been thrice nominated by Democrats and defeated by Republicans. A populist through and through, “the Great Commoner” was still as beloved as he was unelectable. Casting his support to Woodrow Wilson, Bryan sent him to the nomination and on to the White House.

A century later, Democrats need Sanders because, like their forebears, they’re having a hard time picking a winner on their own. They must counter Trump’s increasing populist appeal that threatens to realign America’s electorate. Just over two months ago, Democrats pulled off a tragic trifecta: losing the Electoral College by almost 100 votes, the popular vote by 2.3 million votes, and every swing state.

Republican populism and Democratic elitism

The electoral hole in which Democrats find themselves could get deeper still if they face another Republican populist who is more personally acceptable – say, Vice President J.D. Vance. With such a candidate atop their ticket, Republicans could potentially put in play six additional states (Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia, Minnesota, and New Mexico) that Trump lost by 10 percentage points or less and would need just a swing of five percentage points to flip another 49 electoral votes – a 177-361 outcome effectively the equivalent of Obama’s 2008 beating of McCain. 

Democrats not only need to counter Trump’s populism but their own elitism. Sanders said as much himself right after the election: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”

The Democratic establishment is hardly capable – or to be trusted – to do this. After all, they got Democrats into this mess and are thoroughly discredited as a result. To understand why, just look at their track record. Their establishment gave Democrats Hillary in 2016, Biden in 2020, Biden again in 2024, then pushed out Biden and jammed in Harris. Hardly results that inspire confidence… and even less enthusiasm.

Depleted bench

The Democrats’ establishment is also depleted. Even if their past decisions hadn’t discredited them, the establishment’s ranks are threadbare. They have worn through the establishment’s last generation (or two) of potential leaders. And those who could have possibly filled the thinning ranks – Harris, Newsom, Hochul, Walz – look less viable by the day. 

And Democrats want to go left. They went hard left after 2016, ushering in AOC and the Squad to give vent to their collective anger and inclination. From there, they kept going left until their 2020 presidential field was so crowded that they canceled each other out and let Joe Biden in. Then Biden, too, went left with them for the next four years.

Even after their debacle, Democrats still want to go left. Witness the immediate march to the podiums of Democrats vying with each other to prove their “leftness” by proclaiming their intent to oppose a second Trump administration then still months from office. More than simply wanting to go left, it is who Democrats are. Still.

Democrats believe that they see the Promised Land, and it lies to the left. Sanders has unique credibility in this direction and inclination. 

Sanders the kingmaker

Sanders was the first to blaze the trail nationally decades ago in the wilderness of Vermont. He fell just short (thanks to the Democrats’ establishment) of taking the Democrats to that Promised Land in 2016. 

He is avuncular. A crazy uncle, perhaps, but Democrats’ crazy uncle. And he is liked. How important that trait is can be seen in the political fate of those who don’t have it.

Sanders is the Democrats’ Moses. He cannot go to the Promised Land himself. Democrats, therefore, need a Joshua to take them there. And only Moses can anoint Joshua. 

Over a century ago, after Democrats were unable to reach a decision on their own, Bryan weighed in on the 14th ballot and supported Wilson. Democrats find themselves in that predicament. They again have a similar populist prophet readily at hand to lead them. 

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.