Sanders will run in 2020 if he's still kicking

[Jim Lane]

69. If you want to cast your vote for the Presidency based on the (D) or (I) after the name....

then that's fine. Your vote is yours to cast on whatever basis seems right to you.

Some of us, however, consider that formal identification to be close to meaningless. Bernie caucuses with the Democrats. He thus contributes to their quest for the majority (and to getting Democrats into committee and subcommittee chairships) just as much as he would if the Senate website identified him as a Democrat. Note also that he can't personally register as a Democrat because Vermont doesn't have partisan registration. (Well, I suppose he could register as a Democrat by moving back to Brooklyn. That would also answer the criticism, leveled against him in apparent seriousness by some people on this very website, that his choice to move to a heavily white state showed him to be a racist. That may be the only anti-Bernie argument that makes yours look sensible by comparison.)

As for what he says about the Democratic Party, I personally see a difference between "asinine trashing" and "valid criticism". Presumably some people take umbrage at any criticism and would label it as "asinine trashing" regardless of its merit. I don't agree.