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What Would Happen If Sanders Ran for President in 2020?

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~~ Would "left-leaning" members of the prominent press, Rachel Maddow for example, pull out every stop to delegitimize the Republican (as they're doing now)? Or would they take a more "on the one hand, on the other hand" approach to a race with a Sanders' candidacy -- even if his opponent were Donald Trump, or a lesser, far more dangerous light like Mike Pence?

If Sanders Is Elected, How Will He Be Treated?

Finally, let's look briefly at how he would be treated as president. Any Democratic president will certainly get The Treatment by Republicans (acting as though he's not the real president, or that he doesn't deserve the office), just as Trump is getting The Treatment now ("He's not really president. He cheated to win.") by many in the "Trump-Russia!" crowd.

Remember, if we think it right to withhold judgment on which laws were broken in the Al Franken case until an investigation is completed (I do), we should also withhold judgment on Trump until his current investigation is completed. Nevertheless, in Trump's case the Democratic media's fevered speculation started almost the day he took office and before any evidence was in.

In that light, what would happen to a President Sanders? Remember, Sanders' policy proposals are likely to be as anti-Establishment as Trump's were during his own campaign. It's those anti-Establishment positions that would get him elected in our ongoing popular rebellion against Rule by the Rich.

Sanders would, in effect, be "Trump on the Left," but far more meaningfully, since he'd actually be sincere about his policy promises.

If Sanders were president:

~~ Sanders will certainly get the Bill Clinton version of The Treatment -- endless investigations by elected officials and private investigators -- by Republicans. Will Sanders get the Donald Trump version of The Treatment -- leaks and complicity by current and former members of the national security establishment -- as well?

~~ If the national security establishment joins an attack on the second elected president in a row, will mainstream Democratic leaders denounce those attacks and defend him -- even as Sanders is proposing policies more like Jeremy Corbyn's ("For the many, not the few") than anything supported by mainstream Democratic leaders in decades?

Corbyn and the Left Surging .... Loud & Clear
Corbyn and the Left Surging .... Loud & Clear
(Image by Photo by Liberation News)
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Would mainstream Democrats defend a man like this, if the national security establishment wanted him gone?

~~ And finally, if Sanders is elected president, and mainstream Democrats, subtly or not, join with Republicans and the corporate media in taking him down or rendering him ineffective -- will there be any reason at all to engage in politics in the 10 years that follow in America?

Because, keep in mind, when it comes to climate, slow Democratic Party-style "winning" is as deadly as losing, and by the mid 2020s, that horse will have certainly left the barn for good.

Plus, when it comes to the real Resistance against Rule by the Rich, our "rolling civil war" -- the one where people give up on elections and the two sides just go to battle -- keeps getting closer and closer. What will be the state of relations between the "muscular" security state and the Real Resistance at that point? Will elections have any meaning at all after the State and its mainstream, Establishment defenders have closed ranks for good?

Over to you, Democratic Party and your media enablers. What will you do if Sanders is your candidate?

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A writer who contributes to a number of publications, including digby's Hullabaloo, Down With Tyranny, Naked Capitalism, Truthout and Alternet.

On Twitter — @Gaius_Publius

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