My Turn: How the DNC helped elect Trump twice

Former candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders attends Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016.

Former candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders attends Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. AP

By MIK MULLER

Published: 01-17-2025 11:37 AM

There is much speculation these days about how Donald Trump won the presidency, not just once, but twice. In my view, it was with the help of Democratic National Committee.

In 2016, Trump was a new candidate who was shaking up the establishment, railing against the “deep state” and immigrants. This struck a chord with many conservative voters. But those same voters were also curious about candidate Bernie Sanders. I heard radio interviews broadcast from southern U.S. neighborhoods around the country that indicated some of them were 50/50 about the two, and there was speculation there could even be a Trump-Sanders debate.

We never got to see that scenario. The DNC asked Sanders to stop his campaign and instead endorse Hillary Clinton, an idea that was spearheaded by party chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who was previously a national co-chair of Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. Big mistake No. 1.

Clinton was widely known, and obviously had a strong resume. But what DNC leaders didn’t credit enough was that she was universally despised by conservatives, going back to her time as first lady (remember “Billary”?) back in the 1990s.

To add to this baggage, the discovery of a secret in-house email server further painted her as an untrustworthy candidate; the Wikileaks posting of 20,000 DNC emails proved that Wasserman and other leaders had discussed ways to undermine Sanders’ campaign; and then Clinton called some of Trump’s supporters “deplorables.” That was the day the MAGA movement really kicked into gear.

At the DNC convention, Sanders received a full three-minute standing, chanting ovation, with a significant number of people on the floor visibly moved and in tears. Watching from home, my wife and I were crying. We knew that we were witnessing the beginning of the end. And we were right. Some Sanders voters stayed home on Election Day, while conservatives practically exhumed long-dead relatives to vote for Trump, who won the election by a hair.

In 2020 the campaign again saw Bernie Sanders running, now four years older, as well as other potentially exciting candidates, including Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Gretchen Whitmer, Cory Booker, and of course Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Yet again, DNC leaders put their thumbs on the scales and urged many candidates to pause their campaigns to allow Joe Biden to pick up votes on Super Tuesday. Big mistake No. 2.

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The fact that many voters’ input into selecting the Democratic nominee was again stripped away left a deep burn. The only consolation was that he said if he won, his presidency would be “transitional” or a “bridge” to the next generation. He would not run for reelection.

As we all know, he did win. But Biden, a longtime establishment politician — the kind that many on the right distrust — reneged on his statement that he would be a one-term president, and ran again in 2024. Big mistake No. 3.

In 2024, as the campaign wore on, it became obvious that age was taking its toll, and Biden was no longer the candidate that he was four years earlier. Turns out there was a bit of a cover up starting in early 2024 about his mental capacity, which became clear at the infamous debate in June. Axios called it “a ‘DEFCON 1’ moment for Democrats.”

Four weeks later, with a little over three months left before Election Day, Biden finally relented and dropped out, leaving VP Kamala Harris to abruptly pivot. To her credit, in just two weeks she gathered enough delegates to be effectively handed the DNC nomination.

This big mistake is shouldered by Biden, though he was not taken to task early enough by DNC leaders who should have known of his condition and did nothing to remind him of his pledge. Once again, registered Democrats and independents who lean that way were disenfranchised, handed a candidate that many of them had not chosen or did not want. Harris ultimately lost.

So now we have an incoming president who will have control of all three branches of government, and who has insinuated that all government employees will need to sign an oath of loyalty not to the Constitution, but to the man, Donald Trump, who wishes to be king.

If we survive the next four years, I hope the DNC stays the hell out of the way and allows the people to choose the next Democratic candidate for president.

Mik Muller lives in Greenfield. As of Super Tuesday 2020, he ceased being a registered Democrat.