He is viewed as a safe bet, but not a winning one.īuttigieg is a Midwesterner, but with coastal airs, who put his supporters behind a rope line at that town hall, something Bernie would likely never do. After 50 years in Washington, no one knows what he believes. Former Vice President Joe Biden is an establishment creature with a lifetime of controversial statements and positions to disavow. Warren is a former Republican who pretended to be a Native American for decades. One small business owner I spoke to the day after the Democrat debate this week told me that he felt discouraged at the weakness of the Democratic field - that no one could beat Trump in November - but that Bernie, at least, felt authentic. The evident bias of the CNN moderators at the Democrat debate in Des Moines has only energized Bernie fans: anger at fake news is not just for Trump supporters. Several Democrats told me that many in the state are undecided, but that Bernie has the advantage of a devoted base of support that has never wavered - not after 2016, not after the heart attack last fall, and certainly not after Warren and CNN tried to tag-team him on the question of whether a woman could win. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg drew a large midday audience in the small town of Newton, and billionaire Tom Steyer’s ads are ubiquitous on TV.īut - anecdotally - Bernie’s effort feels strongest.Ī Des Moines Register poll last week showed that Sanders held a three-point led - barely inside the margin of error - when likely Democratic caucus-goers were asked to name their first choice for president. There is an occasional billboard for Tulsi Gabbard, towering over the stubble of corn fields, or a sign for Sen.
The yard signs have not yet sprung up in the snow - but to the extent that they are there, they are usually Bernie’s signs. Still, one can “feel the Bern” as one drives around the frozen back roads of the Hawkeye State. While guest hosting, Gabbard told the Fox News audience that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s tactics have "all hallmarks of a dictatorship.” She also accused Biden of wanting to bring “ about a ‘new world order.’” Gabbard has, in other words, morphed into a kind of (sort of) never-Democrat.Nothing is definite, and caucuses are notoriously difficult to poll and to predict. And yet, if you closed your eyes, she sounded a lot like Tucker. Tulsi certainly has the Democratic bona fides. She endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. At one point, she was vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. She also has a complicated - and at times notorious - reputation on the left. Tulsi Gabbard was, until pretty recently, a Democratic House member from Hawaii. During an August vacation week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson picked an interesting guest host to sub for him. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., may hate Donald Trump now, but many of her values and votes helped shape the world that made Trump possible.īut recently, we’ve also started to see more liberals allegedly jumping ship - and gaining clout. Of course, the larger problem with defectors is that they often helped create the party they now think has gone too far. They symbolize how far the GOP has fallen.
Never-Trump Republicans remain highly prized in liberal spaces, and it's not hard to see why.
Over the past few years, most flip-floppers have been of the conservative variety. By putting principles over party, they gain the ultimate moral high ground. The appeal of partisan “defectors” is obvious: Who better to trash a party than the people who used to support it? People who reject their political peers in whole or part also gain a kind of inherent credibility.
0 kommentar(er)
