Bernie Sanders was following the same recipe for success that Donald Trump rode to victory, even if their constituencies have some profound differences. Sanders held big rallies, connecting with people who actually had to consider their work schedules before attending a rally. “You’ve got to go out and mix it up and be with ordinary people,” Sanders told NPR on Morning Edition. That’s how you win elections. “You can’t simply go around to wealthy people’s homes raising money” and expect to win. Because in America, much as politics is said to be dominated by money, they still tally up the votes. And an unemployed factory worker‘s vote counts the same as a Wall Street trader‘s vote.
[Sanders’ new book is called Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In]
Sanders and Trump courted those ordinary people. And Sanders still believes the Democrats’ programs and platforms are better suited — with much improvement, of course — to tackle the problems the nation faces. But that is not being communicated, Sanders said, by the Democratic Party to the people it can most help. Yet the first step in communication isn’t to get a bigger megaphone — it’s the opposite. “What the Democratic Party has got to do is start listening,” Sanders said. When Hillary Clinton ran for Senator in New York she went on what she called a “listening tour” throughout the state — it worked. But Sanders thinks a deaf ear during her presidential run is what doomed Dems.
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