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Writing about the Democrats’ “2020 Nightmare,” Vanity Fair magazine noted that while the list of potential candidates now testing the waters may appear promising at first glance, it gets less than glittering on close inspection. “Elizabeth Warren will be 71 in 2020, and to see her more is to like her less,” it notes. “Bernie Sanders will be 79. Cory Booker is a show horse who isn’t that beloved in his home state.”

None of Sanders' current proposals has a chance of becoming law

Warren’s stature in 2016 grew as Clinton’s faded, but, with one exception, liberal Massachusetts senators have a poor record as presidential candidates. Warren, a former Harvard professor who represents Martha’s Vineyard, one of the most exclusive playgrounds of America’s richest elite, isn’t everyone’s idea of everyday folks. To defeat Trump, the Democrats have to win back the disaffected white voters who handed him victory—including more than 50 per cent of white women. Being lectured about their failings by a privileged Boston law prof might not be the best means.

None of Sanders’ current proposals has a chance of becoming law under the Republican-controlled Congress. Backing proposals for universal health care and free tuition may let opportunistic Democrats temporarily snuggle up to the populist wing, but it also ties them to a position that could come back to haunt them, just as Clinton’s support for the Iraq war damaged her credentials with many anti-war Democrats. And while neo-socialism may be the flavour of the moment, it might not stand up as well against a less appalling Republican standard-bearer than Trump. That means Democrats are in danger of betting the bank on an anti-Trump agenda when Trump himself may not even be on the ticket: if he doesn’t fall to one of the investigations already targeting his administration, it’s entirely possible Republicans will choose another nominee—one who isn’t constantly at war with the party, contemptuous of its leadership, and eager to do deals with its opponents. Or Trump could declare himself the greatest president ever—really, so good—and decide a single term of phenomenal leadership was enough to do for his country.

That would leave the Democrats re-fighting the 2016 election with radical solutions for a country that has tired of political chaos, social warfare and uber-divisive partisanship, and would just appreciate a bit of peace and quiet.

National Post