Bernie Sanders is leading a revolution to win the White House, but first he has to seize the Democratic Party.

As an independent senator from Vermont, Sanders is mounting his takeover of the Democratic Party largely from the outside. He has described himself as a Democratic socialist, a moniker that spooks Democrats who worry that socialism in any context could cost them a shot at beating President Donald Trump.

Sanders’ political affiliation has been ambiguous. In 2016, he said he was a Democrat running for the Democratic nomination for president. But in the Senate, he’s still listed as an independent. In 2019, he signed a loyalty pledge to the Democratic Party stating that he is a member of the party and will serve as a Democrat if elected president. But he also signed paperwork to run as an independent for reelection to Senate, even though he’s running for president as a Democrat.

Whatever the case, Democrats are wary of calling out Sanders for remaining an independent. They have good reason to leave that issue alone.

Sanders’ political revolution is real. He’s proved to be a prolific fundraiser and organizer. He’s near or at the top of most presidential polls. In the 2016 presidential contest, Sanders won 23 primaries and caucuses and more than 45% of the delegates.

In that contest many of his supporters, who dislike the political establishment, didn’t rally around Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Some, such as actress Susan Sarandon, backed Green Party nominee Jill Stein instead of the Democrat.

For this election, any perceived slight of Sanders by establishment Democrats could result in fractures in the party’s progressive wing, as well as hardcore Sanders supporters. Democrats know they need the energy and turnout from the left to assure a victory against Trump. Nobody wants to mess with Sanders or tick off his followers.

It’s clear that Sanders has pushed the party to the left on an array of issues. Since his 2016 run for president, Democratic candidates in 2018 and 2020 have embraced proposals like Medicare for All, free college tuition, aggressively fighting the business elite, getting out of unnecessary wars and conflicts and all kinds of measures to stamp out poverty and help working-class families.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. (Justin SAGLIOJUSTIN SAGLIO / AFP/Getty Images)

Some Democratic presidential candidates are closer to Sanders in philosophy than former Vice President Joe Biden. In high-profile races across the country, progressive candidates are in vogue.

Nationwide there’s a fight over the ideological soul of the party. You see it in the Texas Senate primary, which features moderates like former Houston council member Amanda Edwards, state Sen. Royce West of Dallas and former Air Force helicopter pilot MJ Hegar of Round Rock versus liberals like former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston and Sanders-like progressive Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez. It’s all part of the revolution started by Sanders.

Establishment Democrats are starting to worry that Sanders could actually win the nomination.

“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done,” Clinton said in an upcoming documentary film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney, and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”

Sanders replied to Clinton during an interview on CBS Evening News. “I know she said that nobody likes me, right? I mean this is not the kind of rhetoric that we need right now when we are trying to bring the Democratic Party together to defeat the most dangerous president in American history,” he said.

Politico’s Ryan Lizza interviewed a multitude of Barack Obama’s advisers who hinted that the former president is also pondering what to do about Sanders. They said Obama thinks that his role in the Democratic primary process is to “provide guardrails” to ensure that the election does not become “too ugly.”

Clearly some Democrats are worried about feeling the Bern, and if he wins a few of the early states, a crusade to stop Sanders could occur.

There’s a possible happy ending for Democrats. If Sanders does win the White House, he’ll change that "I" after his name to “D.”

And the party, perhaps the country, won’t be the same.