Darryl PaulsonI know! I know! Everyone’s first thought is that there is nothing in common between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. After all, the two belong to different political parties and certainly have differing views on the major political issues.
But I would argue that there is a real connection between these two politicians and it is having a profound impact on the presidential campaign.
What is the connection? The basic link between Trump and Sanders is that each is running to be the nominee of a party that neither really belongs to and, in fact, that both have spent more time attacking than supporting.
Both have belonged to many political parties. Trump was a Democrat until 1987, when he switched to the Republican Party until 1999. He then joined the Reform Party until 2001 and actually won two of their presidential primary races. From 2001 to 2009, he was back to the Democrats.
When Trump left the Republican Party in 1999, he called it “crazy right” and wore an op-ed in February 2000 for the New York Times in which he said he was leaving the party because of its ties to “David Duke, Pat Buchanan, and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep.”
This is the same Donald Trump who just said he did not know David Duke and therefore could not denounce his support.
Trump was back to the Republican Party from 2009 to 2011, then switched to independent from 2011 to 2012 and finally back to the Republican Party in 2012. Due to his flip-flops, Republican Party officials demanded that Trump sign an oath to support the party nominee.
Sanders started out his political career as a member of the Liberty Union Party, a little-known leftist party that emerged from the anti-war movement. After four unsuccessful campaigns for governor and United States senator from Vermont, Sanders left that party and became an independent from 1979 to 2015. Although an independent, Sanders never shied away from labeling himself as a socialist. In November 2015, Sanders announced he would run as a Democrat for president and would run as a Democrat in future elections.
In addition to moving back and forth between parties, both Trump and Sanders have spent much of their careers criticizing the party they now want to represent.
Until the past few years, Trump has given far more money to Democrats than Republicans, including Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and large contributions to the Clinton Foundation. In 2008, Trump said Hillary Clinton would be a “great president or vice president.”
Sanders was never a member of the Democratic Party until he announced he would run for president. California Sen. Barbara Boxer said, “Bernie is a Democrat ‘some days.'”
Sanders’ career, in large part, was made by running against Democrats rather than supporting them. His first electoral victory came against Greg Paquette, the five-time Democratic mayor of Burlington, Vt. Sanders defeated Pacquette by 10 votes.
In 1986, Sanders challenged incumbent Democratic Gov. Madeleine Kunin for re-election. Sanders received only 14.4 percent of the vote. Maurice Mahoney, head of the Burlington Democrats, said Sanders’ only goal was “to destroy Democrats.” Sanders told the New England Monthly in 1985 that “I am not now, nor ever have been, a liberal Democrat.”
In a 1989 op-ed in the New York Times, Sanders called the two major parties “tweedle-dum” and “tweedle-dee.” Seeing few differences between the parties, Sanders said, “Socialism is the political and economic philosophy I hold, not a party I run under.”
Few in the Republican Party believe that Trump is either a Republican or a conservative. Likewise, many Democrats are concerned that Sanders is a Democrat of convenience.
Both are united in attacking the unfairness and corruption of the political system, although they offer different solutions.
Some voters may reject Trump because of his wealth. Sanders’ embrace of socialism bothers many potential voters. A 2015 Gallup Poll found that over half of American voters said they wouldn’t vote for a socialist.
Being a socialist is even more disqualifying than being a Muslim or atheist.
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Darryl Paulson is Professor Emeritus of Government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and resides in Palm Harbor, Florida. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
