MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews predicted Tuesday that electoral disaster will occur for Democrats if they nominate Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as their presidential candidate.
Matthews said Sanders’ socialist views won’t be embraced by a majority of Americans and the Democrats risk losing 49 states to Trump as Sen. George McGovern did to then-President Richard Nixon in 1972.
“I think this country will never go that direction and by the way we’ll lose 49 states and I was there in 1972 at the Democratic Convention when the people on the left were dancing in glee,” said Matthews. “I saw them, literally — they were dancing in a circle.”
He warned: “So that could happen again. So clearly. That is what I see. It could happen again.”(RELATED: Nevada Caucuses ‘Wide Open’ Behind Sanders’)
The news anchor suggested that by going “hard left,” the Democrats “are just pandering to the Bernie people. And you know what pandering gets you? Nothing. It certainly doesn’t get respect. And they have to say I believe in socialism.”
Matthews also insisted it was time for Sanders to take responsibility for some of the views, actions and statements of his supporters and that the Democratic Party must demand he do so.
“Are they going after him about the bad behavior of Bernie Sanders’ supporters or not? Is this how they do things in Denmark?” he asked.
“This is the preview of coming attractions. He said he can’t control them but I think he’ll be called to account by the other candidates because they have a hesitancy or a fear of going after his ideology,” Matthews said. (RELATED: Bernie Rally Features Trotskyist Seattle Council Member Whose Party Wants To Seize Control Of The Banks)
At least one national poll has Sanders as the Democratic front-runner with a big lead over his closest competitor, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sanders has argued that the 2020 presidential election will be decided by the candidate who best explains socialism to the American voter.
The MSNBC host continued by saying Sanders has a policy program that will never complete its legislative journey through the Senate.
“The U.S. Senate is run by Republicans … and it takes 60 votes to get this through and nobody says the obvious: ‘Bernie, you’re full of it.'”
U.S. Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, U.S. Feb. 17, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Redmond
Matthews listed the big ticket items of the Sanders platform: Medicare for All, free college tuition and absorption of student loan.
“None of this will get passed … None of this is going to happen,” said Matthews. “And you’re going to sit there and stew in it. So why don’t they bring that up? I do not understand why they don’t bring that up.”
Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville has also been targeting Sanders as a coming disaster for the Democratic Party, saying his policies are not acceptable to most Americans.