Moderate Democrats ensure a Sanders victory with their circular firing squad

Joe Biden might lose his third presidential bid to a septuagenarian socialist turning the Democratic Party into the U.K. Labour Party, and yet, he can’t help but aim his fire at the 38-year-old former mayor of the 308th largest city in the country.

After a year of maintaining a commanding lead over the 2020 primary polls, Biden has begun to spin out in early state polling after his anemic showing in the Iowa caucuses. With just two days before the New Hampshire primary, new polling shows that the former front-runner has utterly collapsed in the Granite State.

After New Hampshire, Pete Buttigieg has no obvious path to the presidency. Although he could theoretically coalesce the moderate vote in the case Biden collapses entirely, his nonexistent support among black voters and the enthusiasm behind Sanders would likely spell defeat unless he made it to a contested convention. But Biden’s decision to focus his fire on Buttigieg could all but ensure Sanders’s victory.

Since the beginning of this primary, the best case for Biden’s presidency has been his electability. As a beloved member of the Obama administration, he could win a primary thanks to sky-high support among black and older voters, and as a likable candidate with the capability of winning back the Rust Belt, he could win a general election against President Trump.

But between the Iowa caucuses and his dismal debate performance, Biden has sorely undercut the electability argument as Sanders has risen across the polls. Iowa’s messy rollout of the caucuses results granted Biden the gift of muddling the narrative of his disastrous showing, but instead of positioning himself as the only candidate capable of beating a lifelong communist running on nationalizing some 40% of the economy, he’s brought Buttigieg into the gutter, making himself seem comparable to baby-faced neophyte while letting Sanders suck all of the air out of the room.

Sanders and Biden are the two oldest people in the race and those with the longest resumes in Washington. It’s not hard for Biden to argue, “Sanders has spent a lifetime praising dictators and promising pie-in-the-sky ideas while accomplishing nothing. From the Violence Against Women Act to maximizing the accessibility of private health insurance, I actually turn progressive priorities into law.” Instead, he’s focusing on a longshot contender who isn’t projected to win a single state after this week, effectively handing Sanders the nomination and taking down one of the last remaining moderates in the process.