Here - explain to me why people who voted for Trump would have voted for Bernie given that they stand on opposite ends on the overwhelming majority of their politics?
Populism and anti-corruption messages? Good grief, you do realize that most Trump voters knew he was sleazy and just didn't care, don't you?
Except for the economic populism and anti-corruption elements that did get people to vote for him. Again, please do explain the loss of the so-called 'blue wall' otherwise. People weren't voting for the things they probably despised about him, but the change they'd thought he'd bring, especially when the alternative, again among the weakest, most-anticharismatic nominees the Dems ever fielded, wasn't much of one, and all but guaranteed continuity of policy that simply didn't work for them.
Then there's the matter of the independents who didn't even vote, and those who voted third party (which received quite a bit more interest than usual). General turn out was low and third party voting was high because the candidates were both horrid as pretty much everyone who doesn't have their head up their own partisan ass acknowledges, and in addition independent participation was disproportionately lower.
You'd have a ghost, a shadow of an iota of a point if
A: Trump overwhelmingly won the independent vote (he didn't) and
B: Independent turn out was high (it wasn't) instead of anemic
The liberal delusion continues. We lost because the numbers weren't there - and they have been declining for 12 years. 3 popular votes won while losing all 3 branches of government. Wake up folks, it's not the candidates, it's the geography of our votes.
They legitimately thought he might be different; that he might change the status quo that had failed them.
We lost because Clinton ran a bad campaign and was an even worse candidate; one who had unappealing messaging and didn't play to an anti-establishment zeitgeist that wanted real change. We lost three levels of government because the neoliberal/third way policies she and so many Democrats have adopted don't speak to the average person, and have little to nothing to say beyond identity politics or that 'we're less bad than the Republicans'. It isn't enough to be the good cop to the Republican's bad cop; people need tangible real policies to vote for that'll benefit them that goes well beyond keeping a half-baked solution like Obamacare. Again, we lost the ****ing blue wall. I don't know how to make this more evident or clear to you. That was supposed to be a bastion of the liberal vote, and we lost it specifically because Trump played to working class fears and concerns and Clinton didn't because she felt she didn't need to. The EC may have been a factor, but to cite it as the one true barrier between Clinton and the presidency per the vote geography is absolutely ridiculous.
Lmao, argue a negative.... Instead of proving a positive...which is what you've failed to do.
In short your argument relies on a fantasy that can't be argued through anything than your wishes of what would have happened. Bernie didn't beat Hillary and any claims about what would have happened if he had are bull**** because neither of us has a crystal ball.
We do know what happened:
- Hillary beat Bernie
- Trump beat Hillary
- Independents voted for Trump - whose policies were the exact opposites of what Bernie and Hillary argued for.
Conclusion:
Anything else is just you projecting on what ifs. Please learn the basics of argument construction?
We also know:
- The Democrat nomination is not in any way a meaningful reflection of the general given that no one knew who Bernie was vs Clinton at the beginning (3% vs 60%+), the nomination process was certainly skewed (I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say it was rigged; I suspect so, but there is lack of evidence to make that accusation on a wholesale, systemic level) in Clinton's favour, and that the demographics and votation of partisan Democrats is not at all that of independents and the general electorate.
- The independent vote as stated marginally favoured Trump, and had pathetically low turn out, while many also voted third party. Moreover, that many voted Trump on the basis of his populist and change orientated rhetoric, not his right wing ambitions.
- Independents and the general electorate absolutely favoured Bernie and his policies more than either Trump or Clinton by significant margins as an absolute fact.
By the way, I've never claimed that Bernie would have beaten Trump; you're right, I don't know that, and I don't pretend to. However, what I do know is that per the data and information as it exists, and several of the most important reason underlying Trump's victory, he certainly would have stood a better chance than the worst Dem nominee in recent history.