What Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have in common
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders appear to have agreed to a debate. So what would that debate look like?
Would they take the gloves off? Yeah. But think about what they have in common. And not just their, shall we say, unique and sometimes uncooperative hair, and the way they both wave their arms and yell. They’re yelling about some of the same stuff.
“Both of them speak to a growing share of the American population that is concerned about the wages that they’re earning, concerned about the future,” said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America.
Trump and Sanders are both big defenders of Social Security. And they talk the same tough talk on trade.
“They’re able to blame trade agreements and a kind of globalization that has undermined earnings,” said David Meyer, a professor of sociology and political science at the University of California, Irvine. “And they both promise to find ways to change this.”
And there’s the rub. Sanders and Trump may agree on these economic problems, but their solutions are dramatically different.
And clearly they have other huge differences. Take Trump’s wall with Mexico, for example. Meyer said those differences could keep Trump and Sanders from stealing each other’s supporters.
Or would they? Maybe if you frame the issues carefully.
“You could get people to ignore the solution while focusing on the way you talk about the problem,” said Yanna Krupnikov, who teaches political science at Stony Brook University.
So, don’t expect the yelling and hand waving to stop anytime time soon.
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