You would have thought the Democrats would have learned the lesson from the UK.
They would have looked at December’s election result and concluded that an ageing socialist who has barely changed his views for half a century will never beat a populist right-winger.
Yet last night Bernie Sanders narrowly edged Peter Buttigieg to win the New Hampshire primary and now heads to the Nevada caucuses on February 22 as the frontrunner in the race for the Democrat nomination.
Sanders, like Jeremy Corbyn, attracts a fanatical following, especially among younger voters, and has the same ability to make the party membership feel good about itself.
And like Corbyn, Sanders’s supporters are often more energised in fighting their party’s establishment than winning over Republican voters.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
To question Sanders’s 78-years and recent ill-health is rightly dismissed as ageist.
Besides, he is up against 77-year-old Joe Biden and 77-year-old Michael Bloomberg in the Democrat race and is only five years older than Donald Trump.
Biden’s bid looks all but sunk after his disappointing showing in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Democrat establishment is now looking to Buttigieg or Amy Klobuchar to stop Sanders becoming the most left-wing candidate since George McGovern in 1972 to win the nomination.
But there are many who believe Sanders can make it all the way to the White House.
Trump’s victory four years ago shows how febrile and unpredictable US politics has become.
Being an outsider is now regarded as an advantage.
Sanders also has a message that chimes with many of the Americans who turned to Trump four years ago.
Unemployment is only 3.5%, the lowest since the 1960s, and median incomes are starting to rise but the country has staggering levels of inequality.
(Image: Getty Images)
Lower income families have seen their wealth decline by 4% since 1983, while the richest families have seen it increase by 79%.
According to Pew Research, as of 2016 upper-income families had 7.4 times as much wealth as middle-income families and 75 times as much wealth as lower-income families.
It is no surprise that employees of Walmart and Amazon donate more to Sanders than workers from any other companies.
There is a reason for Berniemania.
He feeds on the same anger that Trump harnessed: a dislike of the establishment, a grievance that odds are stacked against you and a belief the American dream has gone sour.
If Sanders makes the ticket brace yourself for the most polarising US election in more than half a century.
Today’s agenda:
9.30am – Westminster Hall debate on future of UK fisheries led by Sheryll Murray.
10am – Sadiq Khan quizzed by London Assembly members
11.30am – Scottish Questions in the Commons.
12pm – Boris Johnson takes Prime Minister’s questions.
12.40pm (approx) – Justice Secretary Robert Buckland introduces new terror laws in the Commons.
10.30pm – Newsnight special with the Labour leadership candidates.
What I am reading:
Hugo Rifkind in the Times (£) on AI and the changing face of labour
