Bernie Sanders' Ugly Campaigning Is Bad for Democrats -- and Great for Trump

[TomCADem]

121. Bernie Sanders Declines Democratic Senatorial Nomination (2018)

Bernie Sanders build his brand by attacking and exploiting Democrats. The most recent example is how he runs for the Democratic Senate nomination in Vermont, then declines it upon winning in order to avoid competing against both a Democrat and Republican. By doing so, he gets to promote his image as an outsider, while also avoiding any responsibility to support the election of other Democrats throughout the State.

It is Trump-like in that he happily exploits the party, while also attacking the party without any loyalty or support for the broader movement. Indeed, it is hypocritical, since Bernie talks about building a movement, yet he holds the Democratic party at arms length to preserve his image as an iconoclast who "speaks truth to power." Sadly, this validates a false equivalence among voters that there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats and it also validates those folks who launch attacks on Democratic candidates from the "left" under his banner.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2018/08/21/bernie-sanders-declines-democratic-senatorial-nomination

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has officially turned down the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate, according to the Vermont Secretary of State's Office.

Sanders, who took home nearly 91 percent of the vote in last week's Democratic primary, informed the state last Friday that he would decline the nomination, according to elections director Will Senning. Neither the candidate nor the Secretary of State's Office announced the move at the time, though it hardly comes as a surprise.

A longtime independent, Sanders has sought the Democratic nomination since he first ran for the Senate in 2006, in order to prevent another candidate from taking the ballot line. Each time he has declined the nomination upon winning it. His staff made clear from the start of this year's campaign that this time would be no different.

On Tuesday, the Sanders campaign sent a second letter to the Secretary of State’s Office turning down the Vermont Progressive Party’s nomination. While Sanders did not appear on the Progressive primary ballot, he received enough write-in votes — 434 — to win that party’s nomination, too.