Bernie Sanders

Bernard Sanders is an Independent US senator from the state of Vermont and two-time failed presidential candidate who endorsed and campaigned for pro-establishment candidates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Bernie Sanders was promoted by the Democratic Socialists of America which has pro-imperialist views. Bernie has a long history of supporting US imperialism, including the backing of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, calling Venezuela's socialist president Maduro a "vicious tyrant", supporting the US-proxy state of Ukraine over the anti-imperialist state of Russia, and rejecting to call for a long-term ceasefire in the ongoing Gaza genocide by Israel.

2016 Presidential Run

In the summer of 2015, he announced his candidacy for the president of the United States running as a Democrat. He called himself a "Democratic socialist" of the Scandinavian model and his campaign slogan was to create a "political revolution".

He was little known outside of the state of Vermont and hardly anyone expected him to perform well. In a surprising turn of events, he exceeded all expectations by winning 23 states and 43% of the vote against the establishment darling and heavy favorite Hillary Clinton for Democratic Party nomination. This was due to a rise in populist sentiment among the working class which aligned with his campaign messaging. Even though Bernie called for a "political revolution", shortly after losing, he dropped out of the race and endorsed the establishment-backed Hillary Clinton.

Large swaths of his working class supporters joined the "MAGA movement" started by the Republican candidate Donald Trump, which went on to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

2020 Presidential Run

In 2020, he ran for president again to win the Democratic Party nomination, this time, the main candidate favored by the establishment was former vice-president Joe Biden.

Due to Bernie's Democratic Socialist views and endorsement from Democratic Socialist of America, the organization gained thousands of followers during and after his 2016 campaign. Because of it's roots in western imperialist social democracy, this ideology mostly only appealed to college-educated gentrifiers in urban areas, who are completely detached from the sensibilities of the working class. This demographic of urban institutionalized activists composed the majority of the people who ran his 2020 campaign, along with backing from the "fraud squad" such as AOC. Due to this situation, his campaign pandered to woke social and identity political issues instead of focusing on class issues, which alienated the working class who propelled his 2016 campaign.

The final result was that Bernie only garnered about 30% of the vote during the primary, much lower that his 2016 results, he swiftly dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden who became the Democratic nominee. On the other hand, Donald Trump increased his vote share of the rural working class during the 2020 election, but narrowly lost to Joe Biden, who ran up his vote share with white-collar college-educated suburbanites.