Bernie Sanders wants you to know he’s nothing like President Trump. Indeed, much of his second presidential campaign is dedicated to proving just how dissimilar he and the president are.
Sanders is here to unify, the Vermont senator claims, whereas Trump is here to divide. His policies work for average, everyday Americans, whereas Trump’s only help the upper class. And on and on.
But behind the mudslinging, Trump and Sanders share a populist appeal that differs more in structure than in substance. It’s a similarity that pundits noticed in 2016 when Sanders first vied for the Democratic nomination. Both Trump and Sanders were fiery, outsider candidates who tapped into public discontentment by vowing to take on an out-of-touch establishment. Trump’s election lent credibility to this sentiment.
As the electorate’s frustration becomes more poignant, so toodoes the resemblance between the two candidates who know how to channel it. It’s the horseshoe theory unfolding right before our eyes. Philosopher Jean-Pierre Faye theorized that the far left and far right are not opposite ends of a linear political continuum. Rather, the political spectrum is bent, like a horseshoe, and the extremists of each side stare across its narrow void. The more extreme the policy, the closer it is to the other side’s.
Today’s polarization has allowed both sides to dismiss this theory as unfair and inaccurate. But one look through Sanders’s policies proves that perhaps it isn’t that far off the mark after all.
At a Washington Post live event on Tuesday, Sanders railed against the corporate and political establishments. “We are taking on the establishment,” he declared, which includes “Wall Street, the pharmaceutical companies, the top 1%, the corporations,” who “aren’t working for the American people.”
On social media censorship, Sanders sounded shockingly familiar to many far-right conservatives who argue companies like Facebook and Google have too much sway. Sanders vowed to support “vigorous” antitrust laws that would break up big tech: “They determine who we communicate with,” Sanders said. “They have too much incredible political power.”
On trade: “We need trade policies that are fair for the American people, fair for poor people around the world, and not just designed to make the CEOs of multinational corporations even richer than they are today,” Sanders said.
Perhaps the biggest difference between this election and the last is that instead of denying the similarity in rhetoric, Sanders is embracing it. “A lot of people voted for Trump because they gave up on the political establishment,” Sanders admitted. “Well, I gave up on the political establishment a long time ago.”
Of course, Sanders is doing all he can to distance himself from Trump’s controversial statements and decisions, labeling him a “racist” and “bigot” repeatedly. He has to. If he’s going to win the Democratic nomination this time around, he must convince voters that he can take on Trump and win. But his strategy also includes setting himself as the real anti-establishment candidate who offers real solutions. Sanders will disparage Trump while using his similarities to Trump to his advantage, establishing himself as the only one who can offer definitive change.
For example: “Trump promised to drain the swamp,” Sanders said. “But he didn’t. Instead, he brought in more billionaires than any other president in the history of the United States.”
Sanders and Trump might be addressing interchangeable problems, but the solutions the self-identified Democratic socialist is offering are wildly different from Trump’s. Sanders wants expansive government interference and regulation for just about everything: “Medicare for All,” a high minimum wage, Wall Street regulation, student loan debt forgiveness — you name it. And Trump, to his credit, has actually reduced bureaucratic regulation.
We won’t know exactly how Sanders’s policies stack up to Trump’s unless he wins the Democratic nomination, but recent polls indicate voters favor Trump’s policies over Sanders’: Roughly 7 out of 10 Americans report that they’re satisfied with their private health insurance plans, and 51% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.
It’s easy to dismiss Sanders as an unrealistic nut, but don’t underestimate his appeal. After all, it’s that very same outsider appeal that elevated Trump to the White House in 2016. And if Sanders is right about one thing, it’s this: He was the Donald Trump of the Democratic Party before Donald Trump even thought about running for president.
