Don't Fear the Anti-Biden Socialist

On Monday, Bernie Sanders endorsed Joe Biden for the presidency in a live-streamed virtual appearance with the presumptive nominee from his home in Vermont. “Today,” he said to Biden, “I am asking all Americans—I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans—to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe, and I’m speaking just for myself, is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.”

This is not a move that ought to have surprised anyone. Sanders endorsed and campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and his rhetoric about bringing Americans together—including Republicans—to beat Donald Trump has long echoed the rhetoric of traditional Democrats like Biden, striking an often ignored contrast with the tone of his most vocal supporters. Since Sanders dropped out of the race, those supporters have been the subject of heightened consternation among Democrats. Over the last several days, a number of Sanders-backing groups, including campus outposts for the Sanders campaign, local chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and the national DSA organization itself, tweeted their refusals to support Biden. In the DSA’s case, the decision to endorse no Democratic nominee but Sanders had been made and announced at their national convention last year. A tweet from the author Reza Aslan was characteristic of the liberal response: “Breaking news: @DemSocialists endorses Trump for president.”

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