(This is a crossover Cromwell event–kind of like combining Chicago Fire and Chicago PD).
It is fairly common to view Trump and Sanders as right-wing and left-wing versions of the same phenomenon: the surging outsider taking on the establishment by speaking without a filter. I get that, but I think the comparison does a disservice to Sanders, for three reasons:
- Sanders is truly authentic; Trump isn’t. The latter has played a character named “Donald Trump” on a reality show for the last several years. How authentic can he be?
- Sanders believes what he says; Trump may not. As I noted in a previous post, there is plenty of reason to believe that Trump’s obnoxious position on immigration is based solely on opportunism. In a strange way, that actually makes him look better, rather than worse.
- Sanders is a real politician; Trump is a celebrity playing a politician. No further elaboration on this point is necessary.