It’s not going to be stellar. Americans are still in a radical frame of mind. (Contentment and prosperity tend to reduce polarization, but such blessings are not vouchsafed us at present. So does total war, but, God willing, we’ll be spared that, too.) If Trump had turned life upside down and transformed the country into a living hell, then most voters would yearn for the imperfect normalcy of yore. But he’s something more mundane, a bad (if uniquely vulgar) president who has kept much of the status quo in place, and made a lot of policies even worse. This means that the waverers who took a plunge with Trump in 2016, in the name of disruption, might try a different one with Sanders.
Much will come down to the economy. An economic expansion that kept going through 2020 would carry Trump—just barely—back into office. Trump’s gift for ugly nicknaming is overrated in significance, but, for Sanders, “Crazy Bernie” is a decent one. It exploits Bernie’s quirks—stooped posture, unruly white hair, wagging finger, socialist affiliation—and stokes the ordinary voter’s suspicions. They’ll go with the familiar devil.
But signs are already strong that a recession is nigh, and Trump never looks weaker than when fulminating about developments he can’t control. Very few Americans like Trump’s antics. They tolerate them. And that’s provided there’s a payoff. Absent that, they’ll look elsewhere. For all the strengths of “Crazy Bernie” as an insult, its coinage also shows its limits. Trump doesn’t project complete sanity himself, and yet here we are. If extreme discontent is in the air, voters are likely to decide, once more, that a bit of crazy wouldn’t hurt.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member