Sanders/Trump as Democrat nominee in '08

With a PoD long enough back, anything is possible. But in the short and even medium term, its ASB.

Sanders had literally just taken office as a little known Senator for Vermont in 2008, and would probably fare far worse with a field that included Obama and was less ready for a more radical populist message, as Kucinich proved. Even if he could somehow take the nomination, Trump would be one of the worst conceivable running mates out there for him. I think he was generally thought of as a Republican at this point, and even when he was a Democrat, he still had a record of misogyny and xenophobia that would play terribly with the liberal base. He was also a billionaire businessman who had donated to both parties, so basically the living embodiment of everything that is wrong with the world to someone like Sanders.

So even if they were in the same party, it would take a substantial change in either Sanders or Trumps worldview before they shared a ticket with one another.
 
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Trump never would've become a running mate, he couldn't accept anything lower than President. He might've run as a Democrat, but I can't see his populist measures working as well on Democrats given his wealth.
 
Trump never would've become a running mate, he couldn't accept anything lower than President. He might've run as a Democrat, but I can't see his populist measures working as well on Democrats given his wealth.
I don't think his wealth is the issues; left wingers have fallen for economic populists from a privileged background before, and will do so again. The bigger problem is his history of degrading comments and actions toward women and minorities, which existed long before he became a Republican. The right was willing to forgive or even embrace that aspect of his personality- but with the left, which is far less sympathetic to his views on those issues, it would cost him dearly.
 
Honestly, I don't know if Trump would even want VP at this point. He's having a pretty good time with the Apprentice. Also, Twitter hasn't been invited yet.

Or, we can POD Trump as someone who got super cautious after the successful Trump Tower project, and started dabbling in New York City politics and starts gathering support of the NYC real estate developers who want to make it easier to spur development in the city. But, this Trump POD probably doesn't produce a running mate that is going to line up very well with Sanders.

EDIT: JK twitter was invented in 2006.
 
Honestly, I don't know if Trump would even want VP at this point. He's having a pretty good time with the Apprentice. Also, Twitter hasn't been invited yet.

Or, we can POD Trump as someone who got super cautious after the successful Trump Tower project, and started dabbling in New York City politics and starts gathering support of the NYC real estate developers who want to make it easier to bone spur development in the city. But, this Trump POD probably doesn't produce a running mate that is going to line up very well with Sanders.

EDIT: JK twitter was invented in 2006.
ftfy
 
With a close-in POD Sanders is a stretch, too. In modern politics, almost every opposition party nominee that's followed an eight-year (or more) stretch in opposition has campaigned as a moderate.
 
Leaving aside the other problems Sanders would have (only took office as a senator one year before the primaries started, was officially not a Demcorat at all, etc.)--and leaving Trump out of it entirely--there is the fact that the 2008 primaries and caucuses were held before the Great Recession really took hold. And my impression is that it was, more than anything else, the financial collapse and recession which stimulated the interest in socialism in the United States.
 
Trump elected as NYC Mayor in '05? Sanders elected Gov. of VT in '02, '04, and '06? Have Bloomberg not run for reelection and HRC and BHO sit out. Edwards implodes before IA and Sanders is the nominee.
 
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Leaving aside the other problems Sanders would have (only took office as a senator one year before the primaries started, was officially not a Demcorat at all, etc.)--and leaving Trump out of it entirely--there is the fact that the 2008 primaries and caucuses were held before the Great Recession really took hold. And my impression is that it was, more than anything else, the financial collapse and recession which stimulated the interest in socialism in the United States.

That, and a receding association of socialism with the bad guys.
 
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