Key Takeaways From Nevada Democratic Caucuses

With 60% of precincts reporting, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders won a decisive victory at the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, after a flood of minorities, young people and working class voters came out in numbers to give him 46% of the votes – earning him 10 of Nevada’s 36 pledged delegates so far, while Biden (19.6%), Buttigieg (15.3%) and Warren (10.1%) had dismal showings, and no delegates.

Here are some key takeaways:

Sanders may get the nomination, robbing neocons and establishment Democrats of power once again

Thanks to Sanders wooing of minority voters – who largely went for Hillary Clinton in 2016, the Vermont socialist has a diverse coalition of surrogates who may propel him to the nomination.

This means that if Sanders and Trump are the only two choices, neocons who would have found a friend in Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg will have to sit out two election cycles – while their holdover surrogates continue to be purged from various agencies.

According to The Hill:

Some establishment Democrats have been warning for months that nominating a self-described Democratic socialist will be ballot box poison for the party in November.

…

But Sanders has a hostile relationship with many national party leaders, who will be sounding the alarm in the weeks ahead that he must be stopped at all costs, even if it means contesting the nomination at a brokered convention.

You know who is most pissed off about Bernie?

Never Trump.

They got zero power in 2020.

I’m so happy right now!

— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 23, 2020

Of course, who knows what kind of knee-bending Bernie would do, should he win the election.

Sanders’ Democratic rivals have a serious battle ahead if they want to stop him

With Joe Biden having been beaten like a drum, Buttigieg failing to maintain the support he found in the botched Iowa caucus, and Warren and Klobuchar relegated to side-show status, the Democratic nomination comes down to Sanders vs. Bloomberg – who was badly injured during a drive-by of criticism during the last week’s Nevada debate. Of note, Bloomberg was not on the ballot on Nevada.

According to The Hill, Buttigieg and Bloomberg’s campaigns are warning that Sanders may have an “insurmountable” delegates lead by March 3.

Democrats turned out in huge numbers

While the Iowas caucuses had a fairly low turnout (slightly more than 2016, but nothing like the 2008 turnout when Obama ran), New Hampshire saw a record 300,000 voters turn out – blowing past 2008’s then-record 288,000.

And while the final numbers aren’t in yet for Nevada, over 75,000 people participated in early caucuses alone – not far behind the 84,000 who came out in 2016.

Things are going to get ugly from here

With both Warren and Buttigieg using their Nevada concession speeches to hammer Sanders, expect the infighting among the left to get worse.

The former mayor warned that Sanders would be a general election disaster, an argument that plays to the fears of many Democrats, whose top priority is to defeat Trump.

“Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans,” Buttigieg said.

And he warned that Sanders had fomented a divisive movement that would turn away potential new voters

“Sen. Sanders’s revolution has the tenor of combat, division and polarization, a vision where whoever wins the day, nothing will change the toxic tone of our politics,” he said. -The Hill

Sanders also won’t enjoy support from the MSM after constantly railing against the “corporate media” which was in the can for his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in 2016. But for now, the money is betting on Sanders to get the nod…

In short, the Democratic primaries are going to be fraught with twists and turns.

Now imagine Bernie Sanders vs. Donald Trump amid what could be a massive, nationwide coronavirus outbreak by November, and we’re looking at a very chaotic 2020.

For now, at least – and all liquidity manipulations aside – it appears the more likely Sanders is to get the Democratic Party nomination, the more likely a Trump victory in November…