What Went Down On The First Night Of The Democratic National Convention

I agree with folks saying that Sanders’s support for the nominee in 2020 feels more full-throated, even though the Democrats’ platform isn’t that much more progressive than it was in 2016. It again commits to the $15 an hour minimum wage and to adding a public option to the Affordable Care Act, which isn’t Sanders’s (or several other candidates’) health care position. That said, the platform does state, “We are proud our party welcomes advocates who want to build on and strengthen the Affordable Care Act and those who support a Medicare for All approach.”

The idea that Sanders supporters threw the 2016 election to Trump was always kind of overblown. According to the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, only 12 percent of Sanders primary voters voted for Trump in the general election.

The question I will try to contemplate more, and don’t have an answer for now, is whether Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and obviously sought the party nomination, sounds more like he’s in the same party with Biden than Kasich did. Both have pointed out their disagreements with the nominee.