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BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
There’s a popular theory among moderate observers of the democratic primary that Bernie Sanders is just as much of a populist as Trump in his supposed pandering to the working class. In a Washington Post editorial titled “Bernie Sanders has emerged as the Donald Trump of the Left,” columnist Dana Milbank claims that, like Trump, Sanders is an “angry, old white guy” with a zero-compromise attitude.
Many of these comments came out of the 2016 election, in which Trump won many midwestern states in rural, majority working-class counties. In the Feb. 3 Iowa Caucus, Sanders won several districts that Trump had claimed in the 2016 election. In many ways, Sanders’ unconventional, often touted as “non-corrupt” way of politics is appealing to working-class voters whose needs are ignored by more traditional Democratic politicians.
As two candidates who pride themselves on their lack of connection with the establishment — a term used to describe mainstream Republican and Democratic politicians — there is an obvious connection between Trump and Sanders in their blunt “say-it-like-you-mean-it” discussion of American political issues. The difference in approach between these two candidates, however, is about as opposite as two candidates can be.
Many mainstream journalists and politicians do not think that Trump and Sanders are opposing. When New York Times reporter Nick Fox asked Sanders if he saw any resemblance between his rallies and Trump’s, Sanders replied, “Well, I don’t know if I should be insulted by that question. I’ve spent my life fighting against everything that Donald Trump stands for.”
Sanders is right — he has spent his entire political career fighting against everything that Trump and his administration stands for, often at great cost.
Throughout his career in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, Sanders has maintained a strong, consistent voting record against United States foreign warfare, military budgets, healthcare cuts, reproductive rights and more. Unlike many of his opponents, Sanders has long prided himself on small donations from working-class people. In January, for example, Sanders raised $34.5 million, each donation averaging $18.53, more than any of his opponents had.
Sanders also has a long history of standing against injustice — in fact, the Vermont senator marched in several civil rights protests throughout the 1960s and still continues to attend strikers’ rallies.
Sanders is the most progressive politician on the ballot during the primaries this year.
Trump has not remained consistent with his views his entire life, like Sanders has. Until 2012, President Trump consistently switched political parties. Unlike Sanders, Trump continuously flips political narratives to fit his own agenda. His policies have been notoriously harmful to marginalized people. While Sanders has marched in strikes and civil rights protests, Trump has continued enacting policies that reinforce the very antithesis of Sander’s strong moral code.
To say that Trump and Bernie are the same sides of a different coin, or that their strategies are somehow similar, ignores the diligent, honest work that Sanders has put into his political career, as well as the lives the Trump administration has endangered with his policies. It is irresponsible to claim that the candidate who consistently polls the best with people of color is the same as the president whose administration famously attacks Latinx communities with racist border patrol policies.
The United States needs an extreme change in its political system. In a country where nearly 28.5 million people were uninsured in 2017, student loan debt is at $1.5 trillion and with an anti-immigration agenda spanning over centuries, we need a commander-in-chief who will fight for Medicare for All, cancel student loan debt and halt all deportations.