It's not enough to defeat Trump in 2020

May 19, 2019, 14:25 UTC

By Ben Kamisar

The Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, said Sunday that his candidacy could potentially energize and transform the Democratic party on issues such as climate change, saying it was "not good enough" "to designate the party. just candidate to defeat President Trump in 2020.

Appearing on "Meet the Press," Sanders countered the argument of former Vice President Joe Biden, pronounced Saturday at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, according to which the "most important "of its environmental policy is to" defeat Trump ".

"Beat Trump is not good enough. We must defeat the fossil fuel industry, we must face all the forces of the status quo who do not want to bring this country to energy efficiency and sustainable energy, "he said.

"Take Trump? Of course, you have to do it. But you need a real plan to transform our energy system. "

Calling Trump "the most dangerous president of modern history in this country," Sanders said he's bringing a different coalition to the polls around his progressive agenda on issues such as health care, the Education and salaries.

"We will create the kind of enthusiasm we need to bring out the important voter turnout," Sanders said. "The truth is that our campaign, I think, can generate that enthusiasm."

This is a debate that highlights the differences in approach between Sanders and Biden. The former vice president recently told reporters in New Hampshire that he expects bipartisanship to return to Washington once Trump has stepped down.

"You will see an epiphany happen among many of my Republican friends," said Biden.

"If we can not change it, we have problems, this nation can not function without generating consensus."

When he addressed the problem of climate change at his Saturday rally, he said the solution to the "existential crisis" is cooperation.

"We have to set the most aggressive targets as quickly as possible, but we have to work together to make it happen," said Biden.

Sunday's Sanders pleaded for more radical changes.

"Our campaign has a different purpose – to transform this country," Sanders. And we take care of the entire establishment when we do it. "

Sanders and his allies sought to contrast with the former vice president while they were attacking the political establishment. Both men dominated virtually all the polls of the Democratic presidential field.

But while Sanders blames the establishment democrats for thinking too small, Biden's argument about the need to defeat Trump is the idea that some party members think Sanders' progressive platform is too far left to win in the general election.

Sanders dismissed this idea during his interview, as well as the question of whether his loss to Hillary Clinton, Democratic candidate in 2016, shows that he can not capture the party's candidacy.

"We took over the entire democratic establishment – we adopted the National Democratic Committee, all democratic governors, all Democratic mayors. We finally won 22 states and 13 million votes. it transformed the Democratic Party, "he said.