 So there's an article in Politico that I want to talk about because the Republican Party, they have a clear choice as to who they want to run against in 2020. Now according to this article, Republicans pray for Bernie as Democratic nominee. Some GOP lawmakers would like nothing more than a Democratic socialist to be the opposition's presidential nominee. Now to me, I don't think they're being 100% truthful here. Like we all know back in 2016, Hillary Clinton had this Pied Piper strategy where her and the Democrats would try to prop up Donald Trump because they thought that he was the more beatable Republican. And what Republicans are trying to communicate here to you is that they want to do the same for Bernie. They want to keep talking about Democratic socialism. They want to put his ideas front and center because they think he's the easiest to beat. So let me read you the article and then I'm going to tell you what I think is really going on here. As Bergus Everett writes, Republicans like their chances of keeping the Senate in 2020, but there's one thing they think would all but seal the deal. Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential nominee. Some GOP incumbents are practically cheering him on. Confident there's no way a self-described Democratic socialist could win a general election against President Donald Trump and that he'd drag other Democrats on the ballot with him. It would be good for us to have a nominee like that, said Senator Joni Ernst, who is up for re-election next year and sounded downright giddy about the prospect of Sanders representing Democrats at the top of the ticket. Trump and the Senate GOP have explicitly designed their 2020 strategy around Sanders, beating the anti-socialism drum incessantly and attempting to tether every Democrat on the ballot to what they call a creep away from capitalism and toward collectivism. And though he's consistently trailing former Vice President Joe Biden at this early stage, some top Republicans said they sincerely believe Sanders has a legitimate shot at winning. A lot of people think that in that crowded field, he could break out, said Senate majority whip John Thune. He added, if we can run a race against a person that's an out-of-the-closet socialist and promoting socialist ideas, it's a great contrast for us. The strategy shows Republicans are much more comfortable talking about Sanders and tying other Democrats to his brand of socialism than they are in defending this year's meager legislative agenda. But Republicans could be making the same mistake Democrats made four years ago, when Trump launched his presidential campaign and they began salivating over the prospect of a Senate sweep. So on one hand, to try to look at this objectively speaking, I think that if you have a situation where the economy is running smoothly, we all know that it's not going so well for ordinary Americans. But if you can get the media to kind of parrot this claim that the economy is working wonderfully, then historically it has been the case that incumbent presidents have benefited from economies that are working well. So what they essentially are going to be pitching is, look, why would we change things up when the economy is going great, unemployment is slow, and why would you want to fundamentally change the economy in the way that Bernie Sanders does when it's currently working out for you? But the difference here is that the economy isn't actually working out for normal Americans. They're hurting. Americans are struggling. They're living paycheck to paycheck. So what Bernie will be able to do is touch on these aspects that other normal politicians would otherwise miss, because if you're someone like Joe Biden or Amy Klobuchar, you're out of touch with normal Americans, so you won't know how to respond when Republicans try to run on this good economy, this quote unquote good economy. But Bernie actually will be able to peel away the layers and reach straight to voters and ask them how they're doing in this so-called good economy. And it's not too well. Now, getting to the article, do I believe that Republicans actually want to run against Bernie Sanders? Yes and no. On one hand, I think they're stupid enough to believe that this is a good idea because if anybody is going to beat Donald Trump, it's going to be Bernie. I honestly believe that he has the best chance at beating Donald Trump, even if nobody is a sure bet. But I do think that they're naive enough to think that maybe it would be who have them to have Bernie be the nominee. But at the same time, a large part of this, I think, is them bluffing. And the reason why I believe that's the case is because in this very first sentence, they kind of showed their cards, quote, Republicans like their chances of keeping the Senate really. You like your chances of keeping the Senate. You do realize that Republicans have to defend 22 seats, whereas Democrats only have to defend 12. So if you like your chances, you're just delusional. Maybe they do keep the Senate. I don't know, but I'm just saying that the odds aren't in their favor, just looking at the number of seats that they have to defend. So I think that when I see them say things like this, they're trying to act overconfident in order to scare Democrats because they know that Democrats are more than willing to try to sabotage their own. If they think it'll help them win. So what Republicans here are trying to do, if they really are this strategic in playing three-dimensional chess, I think some are, they're trying to go Democrats into going to greater lengths to sabotage Bernie Sanders. Because what they're saying is, look, guys, you don't want Bernie Sanders to be the nominee because we're going to kick your ass if that's the case. But really what they may be doing is just getting Democrats to do their job for them because they know Bernie actually is a threat. Bernie Sanders would have won in 2016 had he gone up against Donald Trump. I think most people can see that with a brain who looked at the numbers. And I think that Republican Party strategists, they're more strategically savvy than Democrats. So they've got to be cognizant of this fact. They've got to know that this isn't really a fight they want to have. If they want to keep the White House, odds are their best bet is going up against another corporate Democrat because we saw what happened. Trump can beat a corporate Democrat. Donald Trump can beat someone who's a centrist. So wouldn't they want to replicate the winning strategy for them? Wouldn't they want Democrats to put up someone like Biden? Well, of course they do. So what they're doing here is this is kind of something you have to read between the lines with to understand. They want to pretend like they're not afraid of Bernie when in actuality they're bluffing. That's all that they're doing now. Looking at hypothetical matchups, it's very clear that Bernie Sanders, obviously, according to aggregate polling data, is beating Donald Trump. Now, that could change, but currently he's outperforming Donald Trump. So really, I mean, they should be careful what they wish for. And Bernie Sanders pretty much echoed that same sentiment, saying, I would suggest they underestimate me at their own peril and I hope they do, Sanders said in an interview. Republicans are unlikely to run on their own forward-leaning agenda, he added. So they have to figure out some boogeyman that they think they can run against. And that's exactly it. Because look, do you honestly think that they're going to withhold from this socialist boogeyman strategy if Joe Biden is the nominee? Of course not. Mike Pence just claimed about a week or two ago in an interview that Joe Biden, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, he's advocating for socialist policy. So they're not just going to say, oh, well, shoot, I guess our hands are tied now that Biden is the nominee and we can't run on this socialist boogeyman. Of course they're going to run on the socialist boogeyman. This is going to be their strategy. It's always their strategy. So why are we to believe that they're not going to use the same strategy they've used to run against Joe Biden? Again, look, for people like Joni Ernst, I think that when she's supposedly giddy, if I could hear her talk, I'm sure that we'd hear nervous laughter. Because if Bernie Sanders was at the top of the ticket, he would galvanize younger voters. He would get independence to come out and vote. And when more people turn out, Democrats win. And if a presidential candidate, if the person at the top of the ticket does really well, then that actually has a very positive effect on down ticket races. So I think that they're not as dumb as they're leading on. Some certainly are. But when they say this, when they say they're praying for Bernie to win, when they're essentially saying that Bernie's their Piper, not buying it, I think they know what's coming if Bernie's the nominee. He has a phenomenal chance of beating Donald Trump. And if I'm wrong and they actually do truly believe this, then like Bernie said, underestimate him at their own peril. Because I want them to underestimate him.