Bernie Sanders And Donald Trump: Political Analysis

America's recent presidential election received lots of commentary from the American people and the world. Trump was a businessman running for office and Bernie a liberal who blamed the wealthy for america's problems. Despite the differences between front running candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump ran the same campaign from different sides of the political aisle. Trump the republican and Bernie the democrat both ran campaigns calling for change. Bernie Sanders website stated “This your movement” promoting the idea that the American people are in charge of their future. A future without corporate greed, inequality, and rigged politics. While Bernie argued that the wealthy were causing America's problems of poverty and inequality, Trump argued that people illegally residing in America were the root of our countries problems. Trump’s website states that “Together,
we are rebuilding our nation” we the natives of this country, those with heritage dating back to the early European settlers. Together us the natives, will rebuild our great nation. While both politicians have a different perspective on America's problems and what is causing them, neither is hesitant to blame a group of individuals for causing Americas hardships. During the Gilded age wages of America's skilled workers rose, while others experienced extreme poverty.
Leading to increased tension between political parties, thus here we are now with the competitive campaign of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Throughout the recent election political analysts compared the ideas of Trump and Bernie to others of Populist movement. According to the public those with populist opinions are the people fighting for the 99% demonstrated through the populist movement of Occupy Wall Street with the slogan “We are the 99%” the comparison of Bernie and Trump as populist leaders calls into question the modern meaning of the
word. Political scientists equate Bernie with the second gilded age and Trump with a political message that escapes easy categorization. Where Bernie argued that large corporations had too much influence in the political world, more taxes for the wealthy, and the idea that post offices should be banks, in order to ensure fair treatment. All ideas that fall under the umbrella of populist policies that believe economic reform will solve problems of racial and ethnic inequality. Critics called Trump a wealthy business man incapable of running a country, yet he appealed to the vote of the “common man” a strategy and viewpoint used by many past political leaders. Placing blame for the country's problems on the right wing and those of oppressed minority groups, demonstrated in Trump’s policies regarding immigrants and muslims. The candidates appealed to voters by calling on the “common man” promising that others would pay to solve America’s problems. You have probably heard of Donald Trump’s Twitter, but what about Bernie Sanders, each candidate relied heavily on social media to gain support and spread their message. Trump uses Twitter to gain support and talk down about the democratic party, “Dems have been complaining for months & months about Dir. Comey. Now that he has been fired they PRETEND to be aggrieved. Phony hypocrites!” (Donald Trump via Twitter). Trump calls out people who do not support his ideas or the people in his cabinet on Twitter, sharing his opinions on other leaders and policies with the world, in receiving replies from those who favor him Trump also gets replies from those who oppose him. The negative comments work to build a stronger support system for Trump as supporters defend his policies and actions via Twitter. Ultimately strengthening the Republican base. Bernie Sanders is for the people in a way that he believes each person is entitled to the same opportunities, a mindset that is not shared by his opponent. With his supporters backing him on social media Bernie is able to engage the American people in the fight for equality. Through social media, Bernie calls out the opponents of his policies, “Mr. Trump: instead of scapegoating the undocumented, work with us to provide a path toward citizenship” (Bernie Sanders via Twitter). Bernie is not shy about addressing those who do not share his views, singling them out in his calls for action. This is a strategy both Bernie and Trump use, all politicians use social media to rally support, but these two candidates single out certain opponents rather than discretely calling out an opponent, leaving the identity of those opposed, open to the people. A strategy commonly used by President Obama, during his presidency and after, as he would make statements regarding certain people without explicitly mentioning them. Bernie ran a Democratic based campaign, while Trump fought for the Republicans. Yet both candidates fall into the populist movement both candidates could be considered part of the Grassroots movement, those who rally ordinary people to influence those in positions of power. A movement that does not gain strength from corporate donations, political connections or experience. Those fighting for the Grassroots movement are not funded by superPACs a type of campaign fund that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in order to support or oppose certain candidates. Throughout his campaign Trump boasted of his self financed campaign and the negative effect superPACs have elections, yet according to Opensecrets the center for responsive politics, there are roughly eighteen 2016 superPACs that support Trump. Bernie run his campaign solely on independent donations from American individuals, believing that superPACs feed into the corporate side of politics, providing more money to the candidate that will disregard the environment or the needs of the majority to benefit multi-million dollar corporations. Bernie Sanders openly spoke about his independently funded campaign at rallys and to the press, however just like Trump, Bernie Sanders told the voters what they wanted to hear regarding his campaign funding. “I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a superPAC, who is not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street or special interests.” (Bernie Sanders, Democratic presidential debate) Opensecrets the center for responsive politics, challenges that claim saying there were seven 2016 superPACs in support of Bernie’s presidential campaign. This is a situation where candidates lied to their voters about their campaign. Trump and Bernie both had negative sides to their campaigns, the use of superPACs was something both politicians agreed were bad, yet used anyway. The 2016 election was one that challenged the system and motivated the American people.
With Bernie leading “The people's movement” and Trump pushing Americas new birth with his message of “Rebuilding the nation.” The two candidates argued that the American dream was out of reach for many. The expression of anger towards the current American system prompted the political participation of people who had yet to participate in the political
process. Bernie and Trump both wanted to give America back to the ordinary people, with the same stance on infrastructure, trade, and social security. Bernie stating that “we need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure” (Bernie Sanders, Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Manchester, N.H.) words that were uttered by Trump at a New York City press conference two months earlier. While some were quick to point out the differences between Trump and Bernie regarding immigrants, health care, and education they have similar stances on controversial conflicts, for example the only difference between their comments about Social Security was Bernie's,“not going to” to Trump’s “not gonna” despite Republicans wanting to privatize Social Security and Democrats wanting to adjust the cost of living both candidates promised to fight to keep Social Security running the way it has been. The places of overlap between Trump and Bernie demonstrates insecurity about the American future and the corruption within the current system. Trump and Bernie gained support by scaring the American people into supporting their ideas. With Trump pushing the idea that immigrants are taking jobs, muslims are terrorists, and global warming does not exist. Illustrated in political cartoon by Nathaniel Vargas telling the American people that “the world’s gonna end anyway!” sending the message that anything the people do will not change the state of America. Nathaniel Vargas depicts Bernie with the message of change “building a better world is up to us!” as Bernie argues that we must fix our internal problems of equal pay and affordable college before focusing on the problems of others. Bernie and Trump were certainly opposites on many social issues such as, gay marriage, reproductive rights, and education. Nathaniel Vargas demonstrates the similarities between the candidates campaign strategies rather than the issues in which they support. This is evident in the two civilians at the front of the stage saying “they’re both just tryin to scare us!” Nathaniel Vargas was not trying to draw attention to the candidates policies, but rather the ways they presented their ideas to the public. Trump and Bernie developed concrete political platforms and large support bases. Running campaigns that appealed to the common man, with slogans calling for change and proposed policies that aided the underdog, Trump and Bernie placed the blame for America's problems on certain socioeconomic and racial groups. Using social media to aid in campaign support and strengthen the people's movement, making it more accessible for the public to join in on campaign process. Providing the public with a voice and a cause. Despite being from opposite sides of the aisle, the candidates shared more than their New York roots and the desire to be president. Fighting against corporate politics, defended the American dream, and empowered our nation's people.