2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL: The Bernie Sanders voters who would choose Trump over Clinton [View all]PATRICK
(12,246 posts)debate between Richards and Bush, October 1994. No, I am not predicting it would turn out that way but in general the effect could be this. A nervous, angry electorate who already dislikes Hillary in dangerous amounts is treated again to media stupidity and right wing simple planning with a touch of rigging. Richards said all that logically need to be said while Junior was promising ludicrous policy changes flavored with sockito'em welfare and criminal punishment changes. Even on perception, boring but just and responsible and not very vicious against Bush's obvious incompetence, Richards was not the media "star". The audience laughed and cheered with Bush, though certainly no Trump who begs to be booed.
But what I mean is the expectation in the audience that Trump both smack Hillary down and not look scary. Cripes he is mentally more competent(well, maybe barely) than scripted Reagan. He presents the mere image that will sway the masses poised on the brink of responsibility with strong reservations and wild card "Change" and you can bury all your voting bloc power, logical issues and truth based Trump attacks in the nearest landfill. It will be close and she will lose, all the more so since practically nothing has been done to protect the integrity of the American vote.
People with money and influence, besides Libertarian berserkers, are so antagonistic that yes, a big motive is to let Trump burn everything to the ground rather than endure Hillary's prolonged agony of oligarchical democracy. They don't expect sanders to prevail, but yes they would back him more positively because he too would shake things up away from the rule of the very few. these people will not decide the election unless they successfully get behind a third party phenom.
It is the mainstream voter you should worry about, the potential Reagan Dem, the GOP hypocrites who will kiss Trump's ass to get power. The reasonable people such as the main spectrum of DU could be in shock to suddenly see the momentum beast driving the election into the maniac's hands. You think with the polarizing rhetoric and Trump's unflinching ego it could not happen. I am not saying it will or that even then the Dems couldn't pull it off, but the struggling Clinton campaign had better not go into the general only leaning on dutiful party apparatus, bland presentation and Trump fear. The present smugness could vanish in a heartbeat in ten minutes of a national debate. I think it unlikely, but I have been wrong a lot too.