The most ominous conflict emerging in the Democratic presidential nominating contest is not a fight over policy.
It’s the deep divide in the progressive movement: Warren vs. Sanders.
After many months of congeniality, relations between the party’s progressive stalwarts have soured. First, came a Politico report that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Iowa operatives were pushing negative talking points about Sen Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Then, news broke that in a private meeting in 2018, Sanders told Warren a woman could not win the presidency. Warren confirmed it.
During Tuesday’s televised debate, Sanders denied it.
As the debate ended, Warren refused to shake Sanders’ hand and told him, “You called me a liar.”
We will never know what really happened between the two. But the fact that Warren betrayed that private conversation shows she’s willing to play hardball to win.
The left has sprung into action to head off a political conflagration. By Thursday, 18 progressive groups announced a new national coalition.
The “Progressives Unite 2020” campaign argues that if Warren and Sanders continue their infighting, they will alienate and split the progressive vote. That would pave the way for a moderate candidate, like former Vice President Joe Biden or perhaps, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
The group’s website pledges to work to “focus our fight for the nomination against candidates supported by the corporate wing, instead of fighting each other.”
They are pleading that Warren, Sanders and their supporters play nice and keep their eye on the ball — defeating President Donald J. Trump in November.
The left is trying to head off their Armageddon — a moderate candidate winning the nomination. But the real Armageddon would come if the Democratic Party nominates a weak sister — or brother — who can’t handle President Donald J. Trump.
Here’s what they should be asking:
If Sanders and Warren can’t work out their differences now, how can they hope to woo voters in the primaries and general election?
How will they attract moderate voters with platforms like free tuition and single-payer medical plans that are impractical, unworkable and will never pass muster in Congress?
There’s the little matter of impeachment. Warren and Sanders are U.S. senators. Beginning Tuesday, they will also become jurors in Trump’s impeachment trial.
They will be stuck at their desks in the Senate chamber, silenced as the trial unfolds. Some experts predict the proceedings could stretch out for weeks, even collide with the Feb. 3 Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire’s Feb. 11 primary.
How do they stay in play as those contests close in?
Warren and Sanders are polling well in those early states, but so what if they prevail? The demographics there are overwhelmingly white. Neither has shown they can break through in the contests to come, such as South Carolina and Nevada. In South Carolina, Biden has enjoyed a polling lead for months.
Their uber-progressive platforms aim to amplify the masses at the expense of the rich, in ways that could radically alter our democracy.
They are polling well because they have captured the hearts of the left. But they are competing for nearly identical bases.
Both of them plan to win. Neither will step aside.
If they split the progressive vote in the 2020 primaries, both lose.
Is it about their ideals, or is it about “I?”
Follow Laura S. Washington on Twitter @MediaDervish
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