r/AskReddit • u/ReyisME • 6h ago
How different do you think the USA would be if Bernie Sanders had gotten a chance to be president?
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u/monty_kurns 6h ago
If he won in 2016, I think things would’ve progressed as they did during the Obama years. I don’t think he would’ve been able to implement single payer healthcare, but I think he could’ve gotten some slightly more progressive tax rates in place and put those funds towards things like education and housing.
I don’t think there would’ve been a huge difference from the Obama years, but it’s more important what would’ve been prevented from the Trump years. The damage undone is probably greater than what Sanders could’ve accomplished ten years ago.
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u/imnotinyourfoodchain 4h ago
We would have a vastly different Supreme Court and federal judicial system as a whole. More progress would have been made possible because of this alone. Even with congressional gridlock. The DOJ would be in a much different place and possibly could have completed real analysis on the Russian collusion of the 2016 election and that could have ended with much needed accountability on all scale. This alone could have changed the political landscape tremendously despite any changes Bernie would have been able to effectively sign into law due to a hostile Congress. So many foundational pieces that have been used to maintain MAGA control would have likely not existed. The world would be a vastly different place, I think.
Edit to say: all in all I agree. Not disagree. Just adding points to the conversation.
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u/GrexxSkullz 2h ago
You are right on the money. The Supreme Court justices alone i think would’ve been the biggest impact and arguably one of the most important. It can’t be understated how devastating it is and will continue to be that Trump of all people got to pack the Supreme Court.
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u/Wheatleytron 5h ago
Perhaps, but if the Trump years hadn't happened, there wouldn't be any hindsight. I think a Bernie presidency may have delayed a Trump for a few years, but it likely would've happened afterwards anyways.
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u/greenearrow 5h ago
Trump was a reaction to a fast wave of incremental progress. If we had had more progress, the reaction would have still happened. There may have been more to tear down, and that may have made it harder to lose everything we did (though we probably would have lost more - after gaining more).
The best we can hope for in the current system is 2 steps forward, 1 step back. A true progressive wouldn't have fixed that in one or two terms without a full congress to help.
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u/Wheatleytron 5h ago
Yes. Trump is a symptom of a political sickness on the right that has been festering since the end of the American Civil War, and will likely continue to do so long after he's gone.
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u/Black-Shoe 4h ago
Absolutely. The racism in the Midwest and South is as strong as its ever been.
And every single one of those degenerates vote.
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u/CMidnight 4h ago
That is wildly optimistic. His election is unlikely to have impacted downballot races and would likely have a Republican Congress at the start of his first term.
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u/Dichotomouse 5h ago
It sounds like it wouldn't have been much different than a Clinton administration then?
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u/gotridofsubs 4h ago
I think the more interesting question to ask here would have been
"What would the US be like with a Bernie Sanders presidency, and what would he reasonably accomplish that any other Democrat President wouldnt also under the same circumstances?"
Because virtually every answer here is "not done stupid Trump shit" which I have full confidence that Clinton or Harris would also have not done
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u/ayfkm123 5h ago
I think less so bc he had no down ballot organizational or relationship skills and you need that to operate. He talks a great game, but how much has he actually accomplished in his decades of opportunities ? A couple post offices and a terribly sexist 🍇 fantasy essay?
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u/shibbster 3h ago
I am completely politically opposed to you, but I totally agree. Bernie wouldve been an extension of Obama, minus the bombing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan (probably). Bernie might have advanced some of his ideals but by and large, with the nature of the American political machine, he wouldve been largely unsuccessful. Hindsight 20/20 and all, had the DNC not nuked Bernie i might have even been inclined to vote for him if nothing else to seismically shift American politics.
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u/hobard 6h ago
The country would be about the same as the pre-Trump status quo.
Without an FDR level mandate, the president has a relatively limited ability to make the country better. They need Congress and the courts to cooperate for that and Bernie was not going to get that cooperation. The president does have a lot of power to make things worse, as we’ve witnessed over the past 10 years.
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u/matt_minderbinder 5h ago
The best part of a Sanders presidency would've been the ability to use the bully pulpit to advertise a better way and to point out corruption. It would've been about being able to loudly plant the seeds for a better approach in the future. Other than that, you're right that it would've been like any other pre trump Dem because of institutional limitations
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u/prodigypetal 5h ago
Trump picked a third of the supreme court. Imagine Bernie's picks instead of the worst people possible getting the position for the next 40 years. Most of the rest of my life the supreme court is now locked in with the dumbest people possible.
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u/Vast_Neighborhood_44 5h ago
There was a Republican majority for the first 2 years of Trump’s first term. They never would have sat any of Bernie’s picks.
And if Bernie’s in office, who knows if there’s the Blue Wave in 2018.
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u/JeffreyElonSkilling 3h ago
The senate confirms judges. Bernie wouldn’t get his nominees through unless the republican senate agreed. Meaning best case scenario Bernie’s judges would have been right leaning independents.
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u/starkgaryens 5h ago
I don’t know. The establishment getting beaten in a presidential race is a pretty strong mandate. It could’ve started a wave of progressive wins in the midterms and things getting done.
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u/RaphaelSolo 4h ago
Though strictly speaking he was only able to cause this much damage because he had the other two branches letting him run amok. If SCOTUS had properly done their due diligence Trump would not have been allowed to run a second time.
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u/modest_merc 3h ago
Forget Sanders, what about if the Supreme Court didn’t steal the election from Gore
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u/Blacksh33p78 6h ago
We would still have foreign allies. I think we would truly have our military pulled out of the middle east. We would still have a department of defense. Money wouldnt be being wasted on renaming nonsense. I wouldn't be looking into Canadian dual citizenship. Rowe vs Wade would still be in place. The Epstein files would be released no redactions. The United States would overall appear less dumb to other countries. The list goes on and on. Gas prices would be cheaper. The environment would be healthier.
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u/gotridofsubs 5h ago
Money wouldn't be being wasted in renaming nonsense
The majority of bills Sanders has gotten signed into law are literally about renaming post offices
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u/Daguvry 4h ago
Part of Bernies plan was to fund the government from oil company lawsuits and fees. He expected 3 trillion dollars from this. That's when Bernie went off the rails for me.
You can't plan gigantic budgets with unknown/maybe sources of money. That's just kind of dumb and I couldn't take him seriously after that.
Then we would have seen at least a 3 trillion dollar shortfall and probably got even more taxes
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u/vitium 5h ago
What would bernie have done though?
All those things would likely be true for any dem president.
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u/Cheetah44Man 5h ago
I don’t think Congress would have let him do all that much. Unlike trump, he would stay within the boundaries of the law and work through Congress. Every step of the way Congress would work against him, including many moderate Democrats seeking their own agenda. Perhaps we need to rethink the role of president as executives or elect more populist presidents but that’s unlikely to be good for our country in the long run. He would have been a more liberal version of Clinton or perhaps Carter.
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u/---reddacted--- 6h ago
His agenda would have never passed through Congress but anyone keeping Trump out of office would have saved America from our current fate
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u/blyan 4h ago
Except Bernie wouldn’t still be president now (and would almost certainly have not won re-election). The Republican reaction to his presidency would have been the same if not worse.
It’s just a different way of getting to the same bad ending
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u/phasepistol 5h ago
Since Obama was thoroughly constrained and limited (look how they fought against ACA/Obamacare and blocked his Supreme Court picks) I’d say the same would have happened to Bernie.
Trump isn’t an accident, he’s the Republican project of 40 years come to fruition. Reagan, HW, Dubya… We would have ended up here anyway.
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u/DrDDeFalco 5h ago
I largely agree. I like Sanders a lot. But I do not know how much he would have gotten done with not only antagonistic Republicans in Congress but likely plenty of Democrats that didn't want to play along, either.
In many ways, he would have been significantly better than Trump. I believe his international policy would have been much better, not to mention better Supreme Court picks, better Covid response, and better overall administration.
But I am not sure he could have gotten some of his more ambitious ideas through congress, like Universal Healthcare.
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u/2nd_Inf_Sgt 1h ago
I guarantee you, no matter what, it would be 100% better if anyone else became president compared to the cowardly pedo.
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u/YoungPigga 6h ago
Push some stuff then get held hostage by a republican house or senate and then nothing changes
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u/Winterplatypus 5h ago
If Bernie had been voted as president then the USA would already be a very different place before he did anything.
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u/Weird_Rooster_4307 5h ago
It all depends if he had total support of both houses. Have courage and be kind would be the new model
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u/freedraw 5h ago
Just having “not Trump” would have improved our circumstances considerably even if little legislation was passed.
That said, a Sanders presidency would have required large democratic majorities in the house and senate (60 vote minimum) to really get an agenda passed. This is one of the reasons we keep swinging back and forth between parties in power - it’s really hard for either to get enough control to actually demonstrate how their policy agenda would look when fully enacted. On top of that, it’s not like everything Sanders supports would have majority support within the Democratic Party. Like we would have avoided the cuts to the ACA and Medicaid, but he’d have a hard time getting the votes for single payer even if Dems had enough votes to pass something without any Republican defectors.
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u/trip6god 5h ago
Probably not much would change but if he won I could see online discourse not being so hostile with politics since it’s gotten way worse since trumps first term
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u/CougarAries 5h ago
Online discourse is driven a lot by bots trying to foment anger. It doesn't matter who the president is, it would be getting fueled. I'd argue it really took off when Obama took office because he was an easy lightning rod to direct bi-polar hate for multiple reasons.
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u/Zestyclose-One9041 3h ago
The bots started with Trump because the Russians used them to swing the 2016 election in his favor and sow discord in America. It’s well documented
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u/lukewwilson 5h ago
Online discourse became worse as election campaigning started to become more common on social media, it was going to happen no matter who got elected
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u/BroseppeVerdi 5h ago
Fox News would never stop telling us how $3 gas is proof that socialism doesn't work and the war in Ethiopia never would have happened on Trump's watch.
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u/Realistic-Entrance30 6h ago
America clearly wanted a populist. The Democratic establishment successfully squashed theirs, and the Republican establishment couldn’t squash the populist-conman. Working class Americans would be much much better off economically. And billionaires would be paying a fairer share of taxes.
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u/obvious_bot 5h ago edited 5h ago
If by the democratic establishment you mean the millions of votes he lost by, twice, then sure
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u/jaymickef 6h ago
Seeing how big the backlash against the Obama presidency has been I can't imagine what the backlash against a Bernie Sanders presidency would be.
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u/Sudden_Place_1173 6h ago
Obama dug the country out of a recession and they act like he personally did 9/11
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u/ChronoLegion2 6h ago
Bernie is white. Like it or not, many were opposed to Obama because of his race. No other president was accused of not being a natural-born American. No other president caused so much outrage over innocent choices like what color suit to wear.
However, Bernie is Jewish, which may have also affected his chances
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u/jamerson537 5h ago
Racist people already would have opposed Obama in 2008 and he won by a pretty big margin anyway. His drop in support for the 2010 midterms had to have come from people who were fine with supporting a black President.
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u/jaymickef 6h ago
And for many Americans the word "socialist" is pretty close to the devil so many people may have lost their minds over it, too.
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u/Bluebird0040 6h ago
In 1964, ultra conservative Barry Goldwater ran for president and was handily defeated by Lyndon Johnson. For the next 16 years, the Republican Party continued adopting more and more of his hardline conservative ideas ultimately resulting in the 1980 Reagan Revolution which pushed the country as a whole further right. Goldwater lost his campaign but he won the revolution.
I believe Bernie Sanders will be remembered similarly.
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u/WorkingCharity9367 6h ago
Even if every policy he wanted to put in place got stonewalled in Congress for four years and he retired in shame, Trump would have been a footnote in humanity's story as just another POS rich guy that fucked over the little guys over and over with no consequences....that would be infinitly better than current affairs today.
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u/badamache 6h ago
Would he have any support from congress? Jimmy Carter was much more centrist than Sanders and had trouble getting cooperation even though the Dems had both houses.
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u/GoRangers5 2h ago
Assuming he’d still have had to deal with the GOP controlling the House and Senate, he’d have been unable to pass anything and then he’d have been the fall guy for the Pandemic.
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u/_deltaVelocity_ 4h ago
He’d likely not have the size of majority necessary to pass some of his largest policy promises, and if his campaign staff choices are any indication, he’d probably not make the best choices for secretaries either. Biden was a lifelong creature of the Senate and even he struggled to get anything passed through there. I’m skeptical Sanders, who was far less popular amongst his colleagues, could pull off the same.
I’d be willing to bet a Sanders presidency wouldn’t do anything but set back the progressive movement domestically, as odd as it sounds.
There’d probably be more movement on foreign issues, probably in a positive direction, though.
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u/rje946 5h ago
Not much. Congress wouldn't have let him actually do anything.
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u/DrDDeFalco 5h ago
The Supreme Court picks alone would have been significant and likely would mean Roe v Wade would still be in effect.
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u/Stealth_Cobra 3h ago
He would have probably been blocked from passing any important bills by all the corrupt carreer politicians, but assuming he actually had a majority and said majority was not recieving ginormous donations by billionaires , i'm pretty sure the US would not have becomed a Villain on the world stage and a failing nation unable to provide bare minimum services and guarantee a decent life to it's population.
I'm still super pissed the Democrats backstabbed Bernie last minute, all uniting behind decrepit Joe Biden even though it was clear even back then he was unfit for a mandate. Bernie was scoring super high amongts workers, younger people and there was a real movement behind him... And that's even with the news network constantly calling him a socialist because he wanted Universal Healthcare like the rest of the world has, and access to cheap education like most of the world also has. Clearly a communist !!!
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u/OMGitsTista 2h ago
I’ll never forgot actually putting the network news on to watch a big Bernie speech and they just had a corner shot of an empty podium waiting for Hilary’s speech which wasn’t until an hour later. I changed to another mainstream network, same thing. I don’t remember exactly which the others were but CNN was one.
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u/RimGreaper6 4h ago
Less internationally involved. More home based politics and funding. Probably different approach to NATOs and UN's diplomacy. Definitely less instigation with Europe, Middle East, China, and no contact with North Korea.
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u/Low_Shop8561 2h ago
Nothing, the system is broken. I mean it was invented by guys with very little education
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u/Frosty_Winter3197 49m ago
Very different. We wouldn't have ICE agents shooting people. We'd still have good relationships with out trading partners as well as our strategic partners, and we wouldn't be at war and experiencing ever higher inflation.
Also, he'd have appointed cabinet heads who were qualified experts in their fields instead of a group of "yes men" and sycophants.
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u/Beowulf33232 28m ago
There would still be problems.
The problems wouldn't be made worse every time the president preceived something as an insult.
I think Russia wouldn't be invading anyone right now though.
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u/lynxminx 22m ago
Bernie could have been the Second Coming of Christ and Americans would still be embracing fascism today.
There's something fundamentally wrong with our culture.
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u/IAlwaysSayBoo-urns 16m ago
Not much in life would change, he would have accomplished none of his promises.
But he would have beat Trump in 2016 and an argument could be made that Trump doesn't try again. I know he lost in 2020 and came back but by that point the win in 2016 had him convinced he could win again, but if he loses then chances are he just changes his focus to other things and we are on a totally different timeline.
But Sanders biggest accomplishment would be ending Trump, beyond that he would have accomplished nothing of his promises, because he would not have the political capital to accomplish the bigger things he wanted. The real question is could he normalize some of the topics a bit more and see them pass in the future, that is tough to say.
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u/Eviladhesive 6h ago
I'm from Ireland so I don't have a dog in this fight.
There is one thing I know about politics; it swings like a pendulum. Swing hard to the right - expect a big swing to the left next and vise versa.
The best you can honestly hope for is a less eratic pendulum which will swing just slightly and give people the gift of predictability.
For the benefit of the whole world the US needs a very, very boring president next.
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u/nmathew 6h ago
He got a chance and lost to Hilary. Or do you mean the alternate reality where he hates a chance and loses to Trump? There is no way he gets to 270 electorial votes. The DNC had been hollowed out with key strategists and knowledge moving into the Obama apparatus, and they weren't going to bat for an interloper.
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u/After-Vacation-2146 4h ago
The majority of people didn’t want Bernie so I would assume the majority would be unhappy with his political decisions.
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u/Filthy_Lucre36 3h ago
Americans have been brain washed against most socialism for many years, mostly pushed by the big media corps since many social reforms directly counter corporate gains and policy freedom.
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u/After-Vacation-2146 3h ago
Don’t care. Even if you think you know what’s best for the nation, it doesn’t matter unless you can convince a majority of the voting base.
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u/Any-Board-6631 6h ago
The USA aren't like that because Trump was elected, but Trump was elected because the USA are like that.
During the last ~50 years both politicals parties cut education funding. That's the consequency.
In Canada, the government did the same the last ~30 years, the effects begun to show.
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u/Patriarchy-4-Life 4h ago
Inflation adjusted per student K through 12 funding has increased for decades.
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u/BlindPelican 5h ago
Honestly, I think he would have been wasted as president.
As an Independent senator, though, he can be a much stronger moral voice and has done a LOT to drive the Overton Window to the left. That'll be his legacy and will have a lasting impact.
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u/Aetheldrake 5h ago
Better question. What if Mitt Romney had another go at it after Obamas 2 terms? He'd probably have had an easy time after Obamas 2nd term
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u/Eyespop4866 4h ago
Neither party seemed to have any interest in Sanders bringing their flag bearer. Maybe a Carter like term, but without the kindness.
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u/IAmASolipsist 5h ago
People would be pretty disenfranchised with the left though probably less outright damage would have been done.
Bernie Sanders is a terrible politician, he can't build a coalition or get people to like him much less convince them to vote for his ideas. In 35 years he's only sponsored three bills that have passed, two changing the names of post offices and one a cost of living adjustment for veterans. He's in the 0th percentile for senators who have served longer than 10 years.
So had he been president at least the damage Trump did wouldn't have happened, but people would have either seen lesser damage from what little he could do and more likely become disenfranchised that he completed none of his legislative agenda.
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u/WhiskeyHotel83 5h ago
This is the true answer. Reddit loves sanders but he is pretty terrible at actually results.
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u/or10n_sharkfin 5h ago
Sanders would have carried the torch left by Obama and expounded on the progress made during that administration while taking measures to attempt balancing the budget and federal deficit.
The 2020 pandemic would have been handled better and its lasting effects would have been minimal.
His biggest controversy would have just been being an outspoken democratic socialist.
But we would have seen someone like Trump, if not Trump himself, again in 2020 or 2024 if Sanders was given two terms.
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u/starkgaryens 5h ago edited 5h ago
I think it’d be very different. If we don’t have things like medicare for all yet, we’d be a lot closer to getting them. The government would at least be considering whether we have to do something about AI, instead of actively working with the AI companies.
He could’ve started a progressive blue wave in the midterms, so things could actually get done.
Most importantly, we would’ve avoided two Trump presidencies.
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u/Murky_Toe_4717 5h ago
It would almost certainly be an attempt at utopia. As for if everything worked out or not, maybe? But it would ABSOLUTELY be better than rn.
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u/Sidekicknicholas 6h ago
Things I'm pretty certain would be different now -
- We would not be at war with Iran
- We would not be "on the fence" with Ukraine
- We would not have had UFC on the White House Lawn
- We would have an East Wing
- I would assume we would have more transparency with the Epstein Files
- The reflecting pond would probably be something we all forgot about
- Kennedy Center would probably be doing cool honors concerts
- Corporate tax rates would be higher
- We would have some form of government healthcare option above and beyond ACA
- Medicare wouldnt have been touched
- I assume the boarder would be a bit more chaotic still but US citizens wouldnt have been gunned down on the street from ICE
- I would suspect we would be sending aid to Palestine at an increased rate
- Major changes to trade agreements / tariffs wouldn't have been a thing at all
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u/LazyLion65 2h ago
We'd be going to court under Sharia Law, but the proceedings would be in Spanish.
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u/TankieRedard 1h ago
it would look a lot different. Everything would be worse. His ideas have been tested in other countries and they fail every time and make the vast majority miserable.
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u/nellyknn 6h ago
IF he became president, I truly believe that we would have done something about income inequality a long time ago. Consumer protections would be stronger AND ENFORCED!
That’s what I cared about when voting for Bernie and then Elizabeth Warren. I think the will of the people was there but no support where decisions are made.
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u/Falandor 6h ago
Too many backwards ass hillbillies to make that a reality.
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u/keepsmiling134 6h ago
Wasn’t hillbillies that screwed Bernie. He was winning and would have won the nominee had the DNC not changed how delegates worked. He would have beaten Hillary if they hadn’t changed the rules.
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u/Blingin 5h ago
Hard disagree. Bernie was winning when it was him versus 10 other flavors of Democrat. Once 9 of those 10 other flavors dropped out Sanders didnt even come close to winning a single state.
I hate to break it to Reddit but Sanders is only a Democrat once every 4 years.
Dont take my word for it, just ask him.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue 6h ago
Can you explain how they changed how delegates worked? I don’t recall that. I know republicans said it about Biden-Harris because they are idiots who don’t understand what the primaries and conventions are, but I don’t remember what was actually changed in that era with Bernie and Hillary.
Note: I know this is a politics question and so people usually come ready to defend their position and get angry, but I’m genuinely asking her and not just setting you up for some kind of gotcha. I don’t remember what was changed.
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u/VasyaFace 5h ago
They didn't. This is all conspiratorial nonsense from people who came nowhere close to winning but continue to insist otherwise.
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u/VasyaFace 5h ago
He was never remotely close to winning, what the fuck historical revisionism is this.
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u/Egil_Styrbjorn 2h ago
They've convinced themselves that the DNC sabotaged Saint Bernard because otherwise they'd have to admit he got less votes than Hillary. That would mean admitting they were wrong about his popularity and they can't handle being wrong about a fucking decade-old one-sided primary.
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u/BanditsMyIdol 6h ago
He lost because 3 million more people vote for Clinton. Did the DNC favor the lifetime democrat over the person who always ran as a democrat in primaires before switching to independent for actual election? Yes. Was that fair? No. Would Bernie had won if everythung was fair? We will never know but I really doubt it.
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u/gotridofsubs 5h ago
The DNC didnt change how delegates worked what are you talking about?
He was never winning during that race any any substantial way either
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u/neitze 6h ago
Glad somebody out here is paying attention. Bernie had 2016 in the bag if the DNC didn't force Hillary down it's parties throat because "it's her turn."
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u/posthuman04 6h ago
I don’t want a guy that disorganized. I want someone in office that bends reality around them, kills at will from around the world and runs every federal organization before they even get to the election. I don’t know how that was a negative for Hillary
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u/MissMarionMac 6h ago
The DNC owed Bernie absolutely nothing. The man isn’t even a Democrat, and he expected everyone to treat him like a savior without him doing any actual work to earn it. Even letting him put himself on the ballot as a Dem in the primaries was generous.
Hillary and Bernie were both terrible candidates in 2016, for very different reasons. I wish to God that literally anyone else had put together a competent campaign.
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u/mimetravel 6h ago
I actually know a ton of republicans who voted for him
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u/z-tayyy 5h ago
Voted for him in what? The democratic primary?
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u/mimetravel 45m ago
Some states have open primaries. In 2016, something like 10% or more of sanders primary voters went on to vote for trump
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u/antigop2020 6h ago
Yep. Remember Joe Rogan was once a Bernie Bro. The Dems remained the “status quo, lets do the same thing” party while the Republican party recognized that in order to win they needed a “change” candidate. The rest is history. And I fear that even if the Dems cone to power again, which is far from guaranteed, they again will be wiped out within an election cycle because they are basically Republican Lite.
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u/WAR_WeAreRobots_WAR 6h ago
Trump definitely was not embraced by the party until he won the primary.
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u/jesusmansuperpowers 6h ago
The party didnt embrace trump, he got the primary victory despite the establishment. They were so fractured that it was possible. Bernie was against Hillary and one other guy nobody remembers, getting way more votes than anyone expected… it was trump vs like 14 other republicans in their primaries. He was winning big with like 30% while Bernie was losing with that same number.
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u/steves_account 3h ago
If we’re talking 2016, actually, the hillbillies gave us Trump from the GOP instead of John Kasich. His rhetoric brought the uninterested, checked out lower forms out of the woodwork, turned them into republicans, and have them convinced that they are the true republicans while the old establishment like the McCains, Doles, and Kasichs became RINOs. The old conservatives that worked across the aisle and kept their rhetoric somewhat civil.
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u/mattinglys-moustache 6h ago
It would be a lot different because Trump wouldn’t be in charge, but it would be similar of Obama/Biden and not a socialist utopia.
Bernie has good ideas but he sucks at politics, he’s not interested in making new allies or reaching out to the people he needs to get elected in anything larger than Vermont or to actually enact anything he believes in. I guess some people find that appealing but in the end it doesn’t actually help anyone.
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u/WAR_WeAreRobots_WAR 6h ago
I'm pretty sure no one.......no one reasonable thought it would end up a socialist utopia.
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u/manofmonkey 5h ago
You clearly haven’t interacted with a lot of the extremist democrats then. There’s a lot of people on either end of the spectrum that are as crazy as you might imagine.
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u/appendixgallop 5h ago
We would have had the lowest per-capita deaths in the world from a pandemic.
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u/MrSh0wtime3 6h ago
At the time I was a Bernie fan. As time went on I realized hes just a different flavor of the same thing. He doesnt truly believe the stuff he says and wouldnt actually have the backbone to fight for it if he had power.
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u/Arailia 6h ago
I liked Bernie too. Then I learned he’s only passed 3 bills, 2 of which were just renaming post offices. It soured me on him a bit, all his words seem a bit empty and pointless if he can’t get anything actually passed.
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u/MrSh0wtime3 6h ago
i cant say i dont want elderly people staying in power forever and remain a Bernie fan. Hes clinging to power as long as possible just like the rest of them. Hes learned what game works for him to do that. And hes cashed in big time while accomplishing nothing. That is a politician.
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u/jonnyredshorts 5h ago
Imagine the Supreme Court, FOUR judges added since 2016. They might not have been able to sit a bunch of radicals, but the court would be stacked with a far more progressive slant than anything we’ve ever seen. He would have faced fierce opposition from both establishment Democrats and Republicans, but he also would have helped many down ballot candidates pick up valuable seats in the House, Senate and state governments.
So while I doubt he would have been able to make universal healthcare happen, I have no doubt that he would have been able to vastly improve access to care, and lower drug prices.
I doubt he would have started any wars, and would probably have helped Ukraine far more than any other option.
In general, the average American would have had their lives improved, the rich would be paying more in taxes instead of tax breaks, and while still funding the massive military, more money would have been earmarked to help those that struggle.
Definitely not a road paved in gold with sunshine and lollipops, and the MSM would absolutely be down playing every success and focusing on any difficulties he had, but the people would notice that lots of little things got easier.
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u/Unable_Apartment_613 5h ago
"Gotten the chance". He had a chance. He lost the primary. He was never able to win the majority of the support of his own party for nomination. He depended on a large field of candidate so he could try to win with a plurality. His opponents chose to drop out and centralize their support behind a different candidate. There's nothing illegal or wrong about that. This narrative that he was somehow cheated has got to stop.
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u/enigma7x 5h ago
Bernie would light-years better than the Trump admin. Maybe he wins a second term maybe he doesn't - you wouldn't see Biden trying to primary him (they served in the Senate together for ages) and he'd probably retire from politics and try to help his son.
As far as how effective a president he would be, he probably would have been okay overall and definitely would not have been able to pass the progressive purity tests to satisfy those core voters. By the end of his time, progressives would probably be calling him a corporatist because he didn't delete private health insurance during his administration (because he is not a monarch and does not have that authority as president).
Fun little what if. I'd choose this timeline a million times over our current one. I probably don't view it as utopic as maybe some others do. It would definitely be an overall good one, though.
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u/azninvasion2000 5h ago
We would be in a much better place, IMO. I get that certain republican/conservative values and beliefs make sense, but not only is the current president unapologetically racist, but he is just a very stupid and petty person.
It really showed when he said he's lower Rx drugs by 5000%. I'm willing to bet my life savings that if you gave him 4 apples, and told him to give half of those apples to Melania, he wouldn't know what to do.
Most of the stuff he says completely falls apart when you stop and think about it for a second. His claim that the Epstein Files were written by the democrats requires Obama and Biden to literally travel through time for it to work.
When he finally passes away, the whole world will celebrate as we all collectively work together to undo the damage he has caused. He's just so incredibly stupid, and a mean person who has openly admitted to being a pedo. When he was on the Howard Stern show while running for president, he said that he's never been sick a single day in his entire life. Like, why would you even say something like that?
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u/Lincoln624 5h ago
Unimaginably wonderful.
Wouldn’t it be so nice to not have to think about the fucking president every god damned day?
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u/TravisALane 4h ago
I'm going rogue and answering a different question. As I've gotten older and wiser, I think Bush vs Gore was the pivotal moment.
Gore very likely would've continued the sound fiscal policies under Clinton. Imagine the 2000s unfolding with a budget surplus to work from instead of giving it away to the wealthy and seeing the economy blow up in 2007.
America could have invested in clean energy and led the world in its deployment and production rather than being married to dead and dying energy sources and industries.
And there's a chance - not a guarantee but a chance - that 9/11 doesn't happen under Gore.
Trump's decade has been the most catastrophic without any question, and I think we won't see the full impact for decades, but Bush was a massive shift at exactly the wrong time in so many areas.
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u/yoshimipinkrobot 6h ago
It much diff because he was a terrible legislator and administrator
He surrounded himself with morons during his campaign, which is why he lost
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u/Plaxidentshappen17 5h ago
Considering he’s been in politics for 685 years and has passed very little, I doubt much would have changed. Hes not exactly known for getting things done
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u/Mackheath1 5h ago
I followed it all closely and the reason I finally settled on Secretary Clinton in the primary was that I understood him to be very difficult to work across the line (although he has), and too much too soon. He would not budge. I very much like him, but his heels are so dug in that the jackasses elsewhere would give him nothing.
So we would be in a much better place, because nothing happening is better than this living decade of hell has been.
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u/Forsaken_Rain_9639 2h ago
He got more than a good chance already
But he just turned out to be a spoiler, unfortunately
Also revealed USA electorate had been subsumed by populism
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u/asobes27 5h ago
Not by much similar to most presidents. Separation of powers limitations and the fact that the job is largely you listen to your cabinet who listens to career people who have done shit the same way for 50 years. Being a big change president is like trying to turn a cruise ship on a dime. Not going to happen and if it does its going to be bad shit like war.
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u/harrythealien69 5h ago
I like to think he would not have sold out to the military industrial complex, but he probably would
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u/BaldingMonk 5h ago
It depends completely on whether congress would have been aligned with his agenda.
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u/xylofone 5h ago
it really depends on control of the house and senate and how much the party is willing to push boundaries. if it's Bernie but the party is still run by establishment dems then I wouldn't think they'd accomplish much.
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u/Sea-Bed-3757 4h ago
He would have struggled to get things done, but his effort would have been obvious and anyone going against his beneficial policies would have outed themselves as against the people. It is obvious why republicans didnt want him, but that is the reason democrats didnt.
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u/Iztac_xocoatl 4h ago
The same thing that happens every time a progressive has to govern. He would've moderated in some minor way or failed to do everything he set out to do and progressives/a significant faction of progressives would now hate him.
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u/LLFD1982 3h ago
The Republicans couldn't have stacked congress and the SCOTUS with racist people that hate Trans folks, women and other minorities.
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u/slugfest5 3h ago
Gee, I wonder? Let’s take a look at Venezuela and Cuba while we ponder that thought….I’m sure things would be just swell!!!!
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u/EccentricFeather 3h ago
We would have to go back to 2000 election and convince Gore to stick out the insanely abusive behavior of Florida to see any chance at a different America. Everything since then has been a series of highly calculated unfortunate events that have led to the toxic and hostile takeover of douche bags who want everything in life to be easy for them while they tell everyone else they gotta work hard for it.
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u/calanthe_ridge 2h ago
Probably less different than people think. President still has to get through Congress, so most of the big ideas would have been watered down or blocked. Might have shifted the Overton window left though.
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u/Ghost17088 2h ago
It would probably be equally divided for different reasons. We need an actual moderate in office.
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u/Oceanbreeze871 2h ago
He wouldn’t have gotten much done as an independent because he wouldn’t have had either part willing to work with him. It would be in their interest to make sure he failed.
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u/ToWanderHer 2h ago
You know that civil war they talk about? If we get a Bernie who acts like trump (but for the actual good if the country), those Confederate flags will come right back out. We never threaten to overthrow the govt when they round up our brothers and sisters in the street, when they throw us on the streets, or when they take the bread from our children's plate while screaming we deserve less than minimum wage. Let two dudes kiss on primetime TV and they have their pitchforks loaded with extra magazines, bumpstocks, and a raging boner with us in their sites. I hope we have a blue wave coming. I don't think they're going to go quietly into that dark night.
We know who the weordos are.
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u/Altruistic_Cow_8422 1h ago
We wouldn't be in the middle of this idiotic (losing) war in Iran, we wouldn't be embroiled in self-destructive trade wars with our closest allies, there wouldn't be avowed white supremacists in the oval office, AI wouldn't be running amok unchecked and the Epstein list would have been publicized with arrests being made and perpetrators being prosecuted.
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u/Mindless-Recover2029 1h ago
If he won 2016? I don't know. Republicans may have held on to Congress and prevented most of his agenda. The establishment Dems at the time really didn't like his messaging.
Now? I can only imagine. The next time Democrats are in charge they will do whatever they can to consolidate power via court packing, adding states, throwing Trump admin officials in jail, etc. We live in a very different social and political time than we did 10 years ago. Cooler heads used to prevail at times back then. Post covid and post Trump everyone is going to be relentless.
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u/Additional_Release49 1h ago
It's a shame the democratic party purposely sank Bernie. He would of been great. It's sad the Democrats then did the pied piper strategy and helped get trump elected. Backfired for them now didn't it.... Thank God in the last election they held a fair primary and let the people choose a candidate this time right? ....right???
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u/uninspired-86 54m ago
It would have been chaos. Your country needs a great reset and Bernie is not it. It has to play out the way it’s playing out with a fascist. But America will have concentration camps and a lot of people are going to die before they actually wake up enough to civil war
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u/Sufficient-Term-9667 23m ago
Without a Congress that supported him and passed his legislation, he'd be looked at as a "do nothing" president who probably would have lost after 4 years, because people think President have everything to do with legislation when they can only pass or veto bills that get to them (and if they get vetoed, a super majority can nullify it)
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u/ThickCakeyChubBoy02 6h ago
I’m sure all the comments here will be normal and respectful