Bernie Sanders had to quit the US presidential race because the Democratic Party’s top brass had opposed his left-wing views from the very outset, the director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, Valery Garbuzov, told TASS on Thursday.
“Sanders’s left-of-center views are too radical for the United States. He promises nationalization and various social programs. He does not fit in with America’s customary political landscape at all, although he does have an electorate of his own,” Garbuzov said. The other contender for the role of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Joe Biden, on the contrary is a creature of the Democratic Party’s upper tier and a steadfast bureaucrat.”
“From the very beginning the tactic of the Democratic Party’s top brass was to elbow Sanders into the background to let Biden take centerstage to ensure by the moment of the party’s Convention in the summer Biden already become a presidential candidate.”
Sanders’ decision to quit makes Biden the sole candidate from the Democratic Party in the presidential election. However, it is too hard to say for the time being to what extent such an early nomination will contribute to his electoral chances, Garbuzov said.
“The coronavirus has intervened. In January, no one could have guessed what kind of situation there would emerge so soon. President Donald Trump was boasting about his economic successes, which have now been reduced to nothing. Everything depends on what Trump and his administration will do in the current critical situation,” Garbuzov said. “If the people see him as the leader of the nation and its savior, there will be one result, but if he begins to be perceived as someone who does nothing but indulges in demagogy, his chances will dwindle.”