This Florida mess just took an even uglier turn
Five minutes after the media crowned him the prohibitive favorite for the nomination – a title he somehow picked up by winning just two out of three states, with forty-seven more states yet to vote – Bernie Sanders proceeded to make a huge mess of things. He went on 60 Minutes and partially praised Fidel Castro, which is a surefire way for any candidate to lose Florida.
This set off such a firestorm, several U.S. House members representing Florida posted statements disavowing themselves from Bernie Sanders. It was a stark and scary reminder that if Sanders does end up being the Democratic nominee, not only will he lose to Donald Trump, he’ll likely cost the Democrats the House. Sanders doubled down on his Castro remarks during the debate on Tuesday night, prompting the audience to loudly boo him. Now it’s gotten even uglier for him in Florida.
Just how serious are Florida Democrats about trying to distance themselves from Bernie Sanders in order to maintain credibility with Cuban voters? Some registered Democrats in Florida have filed a suit aimed at getting Sanders removed from the Democratic primary ballot, on the grounds that he’s a registered Independent and not actually a Democrat.
To be clear, this suit is only coming from Democratic voters, and is not being supported by the Democratic Party of Florida. We can’t see this suit getting anywhere in court, considering Sanders already appeared on the Democratic primary ballot in 2016 and no one thought to challenge him back then. But it’s a sign just how offended Florida Democrats are – and just how adamant they are about Bernie Sanders not being the Democratic nominee. While Sanders would be infinitely better than Trump, the reality is this: if Sanders is the nominee, he’ll lose, and we’ll be stuck with four more awful years of Trump.
