Approximately 19 Democratic presidential hopefuls are attempting to remove President Donald Trump from the White House in 2020.

 

 

Getting to Know Sen. Bernie Sanders


Feel the burn, 2020 style.


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) shocked the Democratic powers that be when he gave Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton a run for her money for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.


Four years later and four years wiser, Sen. Sanders is back again and is consistently one of the top three Democratic presidential candidates in the various polls.


But does the burn still heat up like it did four years ago now that his Democratic socialist message has become mainstream amongst the left and his health has come into question after a recent heart scare took him off of the campaign trail for a few days?


Sanders said, “‘Heart attack’ is a scary word. What I had is a 45 to 50 minute procedure; two stents were placed in my heart, which had a blocked artery. This is a procedure, as I understand it, done many, many hundreds of thousands of times a year. It’s a fairly common procedure, and people are back on their feet pretty soon, as is the case with me.”


Although Sanders said that he is doing fine after the heart procedure, it could be awhile before he gets back to his normal campaign routine.


“There’s nobody who runs as vigorous a campaign as I did, we’re talking three or four rallies a day and town hall meetings and so forth,” said Sanders.


The 78-year-old vowed to release his medical records soon.


Nevertheless, Sanders’ record on the issues has stayed clear for years.


Sanders supports Medicare for All.


Implementing Medicare for All would mean that all Americans would receive healthcare from the government.


He has supported legislation that would decrease drug costs by encouraging the import of cheaper drugs from other countries and getting Medicare to negotiate cheaper drug prices.


The senator from Vermont wants to break up big banks.


The presidential hopeful wants to set a $15 per hour minimum wage.


Sanders has called the current $7.25 per hour minimum wage a “starvation wage.”


The pressure Sanders put on Amazon influenced the online retailer to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour.


Other businesses have said that raising the minimum wage would force them to cut jobs and services.


He also wants to make public colleges free of charge.


Sanders wants to make community college free and four year colleges free for families earning less than $125,000 per year.


He also favors student loan forgiveness.


The problem with his aggressive and progressive agenda is that he is not the only Democratic candidate pushing for these issues like in 2016.


His future rests on whether his supporters still feel the burn for him now that some of his Democratic opponents have lit the progressives on fire with similar messages.


Sanders wants to address income inequality by taxing estates starting at $3.5 million, which would also include a 77 percent rate on billionaire estates.


CNBC reported, “The senator has endorsed a version of the Green New Deal, a plan to dramatically reshape the U.S. economy to cut carbon emissions and address climate change. Other 2020 Democratic contenders have endorsed that plan in some form, though not necessarily as outlined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. President Donald Trump and Republican campaign groups have also seized on the freshman representative’s proposal as evidence of a Democratic Party drifting toward socialism.”


While Republicans criticize the Democratic Party for leaning too far left, the fact that Sanders proposed some of these progressive ideas before they went mainstream within the Democratic Party shows to some that he might be the leader to take this country in a new direction.


Sanders explained, “All of those people were saying, ‘Oh Bernie, they’re so radical. They are extreme. The American people just won’t accept those ideas.’ Well, you know what’s happened in over three years? All of those ideas and many more are now part of the political mainstream.”


Though others have jumped on Sanders’ progressive bandwagon in recent years that has not stopped all of the new school progressives from paying homage to the senator from Vermont.


Recently, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the liberal female congressional group “The Squad,” endorsed Sanders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.


Furthermore, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), another member of “The Squad,” will endorse Sanders for president as well.


A third member of “The Squad,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) has remained open to endorsing Sanders for president as well.


“The senator is the only candidate that isn’t about leaning a particular way, but being true to yourself and fighting for what you believe regardless of what the obstacles are,” said Rep. Omar.


The only member of “The Squad” to not endorse Sanders for president is Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who is from Senator Elizabeth Warren’s home state.


Pressley has stayed neutral so far.


“Ayanna has tremendous respect for her sisters-in-service,” said a spokesperson for Pressley. “Ayanna knows that taking back the White House in 2020 is top priority, and she is working everyday to hold this administration accountable and build a bold, diverse movement that will help propel Democrats to victory up and down the ballot.”


However, support from “The Squad” could turn off more moderate Democrats.


“Look, the haters are gonna hate regardless,” said Nina Turner, who serves as a national co-chairperson for the Sanders presidential campaign. “So why not just ride this thing on out and do it in a way where the senator has the ability to do the greatest amount of good?”

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