as always, than zero), I doubt that. His Obama-related appeal to black voters, charm and relatability would
probably overcompensate for any enthusiasm deficit among radical Democrats in the decisive clutch of
swing states.
But there’s no guarantee of that. There is no guarantee of anything. The closest to a certainty in this
scenario is that the immediate fate of the US, and the planet, would rest in the hands of Bernie Sanders.
What had the makings of a cakewalk for Trump a month ago looks more like the squeakiest of bum times
again. In 2000, 2004 and 2016, a few tens of thousands of votes spread across several states (or a few
hundred votes in Florida) gave us George W Bush, twice, and Trump. If 2020 franks that form, as the viral
stock market volatility and surging prospect of recession suggest, the result could turn on how Sanders
reacts to what he would justly view as an unforgivably anti-democratic establishment putsch.
If he sulks in his tent like Achilles with cardiac stents, and reduces turnout by even one or two per cent, that
could be fatal for Biden. If he rises above the overpowering sense of grievance, and campaigns passionately
for Biden as the anti-Trump, he might rid the planet of a unique abomination.
It is too easy to preach glibly about duty when it comes at someone else’s expense. You can glance at our
own political history from the safety of a keyboard, and rail at Gordon Brown, for instance, for not steering
history towards a better path by accepting his electoral limitations and graciously standing aside for
someone else.
Even so, should Sanders reach the convention with a plurality and be denied, his duty would be crystal
clear. It would be to negotiate with Biden for as much of his own platform he can get adopted; hug him half
to death on the stage; and hit the campaign trail the next morning begging his heartbroken supporters to
lick their wounds. Then turn to the small matter of surgically resecting an endlessly aggressive tumour
from the Oval Office in November.