The first primary event of the 2020 presidential cycle begins Monday with the Iowa caucus, and Vt. Sen. Bernie Sanders is dominating the field of contenders.
And Donald Trump is nervous.
He admitted as much at a 2018 private dinner meeting, we discovered this week.
In a nearly 90-minute audio recording of a dinner Lev Parnas, a close associate of the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, attended with Parnas's attorney, Joe Bondy, Trump confessed he was relieved Hillary Clinton did not select Sanders as her running mate 2016.
Trump is heard saying:
"Because [Sanders'] a big trade guy. You know he basically says we're getting screwed on trade. And he's right...If Bernie would have been VP it would have been tougher...I got 20% of Bernie vote because of trade. He's a big trade guy...Had she picked Bernie Sanders it would have been tougher. He is the only one I didn't want her to pick."
If Donald Trump was fearful Sen. Sanders would pull in progressive Democrats and left-leaning Independents in 2016, imagine what he might be feeling at the moment now that Sanders has a better shot at the White House today than he did four years ago.
But Trump is not the only one nervous about a Sanders candidacy and presidency.
The corporate commercial media is as well, even the so-called "liberal" networks.
Sanders is also facing opposition from the establishment Democratic party--again.
Last weekend, Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez released the 2020 convention committee, which looks, according to Sunrise Movement political director Evan Weber, like "a who's-who of people explicitly opposed to the progressive agenda."
Two individuals on that "who's-who" list have Sanders allies upset.
Slated to co-chair the Rules Committee is former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), whom the Sanders campaign unsuccessfully tried to remove, describing him as an "aggressive attack surrogate for the Clinton campaign."
Joining him on the committee will be former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
It was one of Podesta's emails that Wikileaks leaked in the run-up to the 2016 election, and one of those emails to a Democratic strategist inquired about where to "stick the knife in" Sanders.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
