With Bernie Sanders continuing to surge in the primary, some establishment Democrats appear to be ramping up efforts to slow him down. But Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is reportedly two steps ahead of them, torn over the threat Sanders poses to the president.

A Sanders nomination, some in Trumpworld theorize, could make it easier for the president to portray his opponent as a far-left radical out of touch with mainstream Americans. (Not that Trump needs too much help on that front, as he’s quick to paint all Democrats as socialists who worship at the altar of freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.) The thinking, per Politico, is that a Sanders candidacy would be a “gift” to Trump, who has more to fear in facing a moderate like Joe Biden. “In the end, [suburbanites aren’t] going to vote for a socialist,” Norm Coleman, national chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told the outlet. Those factions have apparently pushed to launch a campaign elevating Sanders over his Democratic rivals, just as Democrats in 2016 boosted Trump, believing him to be easy pickings.

Not everyone in Trumpwold agrees, as some reportedly see Sanders’ populist appeals to working class Americans as potentially finding a receptive audience inside Trump’s base. “It’s a big mistake for Trump supporters to assume that if Bernie Sanders gets the nomination there’s no chance somehow he can win,” Matt Schlapp, an ally of the president and head of the American Conservative Union, told Politico. Republican Congressman Mark Meadows, a possible candidate to replace chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, added that “Sanders poses the greatest risk because we are still in an anti-establishment era for presidential elections.”

In an apparent effort to drive a wedge between Democratic factions, Trump recently suggested the primary is rigged against Sanders. “Crazy Bernie takes the lead,” the president tweeted last week, “but it is looking more and more like the Dems will never allow him to win!” The conventional wisdom holds that while Sanders’ unapologetically progressive agenda might appeal to his base, he would fare poorly in a general election that would require him to win over moderate Democrats and some independents. Of course, similar opining and punditry missed the Trump Train speeding along in 2016 and so there’s reason to be skeptical this cycle—especially as enthusiasm for Sanders’ bid outpaces that of his Democratic rivals, with just days before the Iowa caucus.

Sanders and his surrogates argue that the grassroots support he has inspired is the only match for Trump in November. “The way you defeat Donald Trump is by having the largest voter turnout in the modern history of this country,” the Vermont Senator said earlier this month, suggesting that Biden and his other opponents aren’t up to the task. “That’s how you beat him.” But some in the party establishment remain unconvinced, and seem to be preparing for an offensive. So far, there has not been a centralized effort to thwart Sanders, but individual groups, like the moderate-aligned Democratic Majority for Israel, are taking aim at him in new ads. Biden is attempting to rally his base to “step up its game” and defend him on social media, where he’s been the subject of withering attacks from Sanders and his Internet army of supporters.

The question moderate Democrats—and, it seems, Team Trump—are grappling with is whether such actions ultimately help or hurt their cause. For his Democratic rivals, going after Sanders could help prove his point about the broken political system he’s seeking to upend. Attacks from Trump and his allies could boost Sanders as the candidate considered most formidable against Trump in a general election, a crown that Biden once happily wore. The former vice president remains the frontrunner in averages of national polls. But early primary wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, where Sanders leads, could alter the landscape. While that might concern some moderates who, like Biden and Hillary Clinton, have waffled about whether they’d ultimately endorse Sanders as the nominee, they might be forced to weigh that possibility against the prospect of another four years under Trump.

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