33 - A Looming Socialist Threat (1.26.2020)

We begin this week’s episode with a glimpse at California mayors making some silly endorsements in the Democratic presidential race. Locally, Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg endorsed Joe Biden. ("I'm sad that I can't support (Michael Bloomberg)," he lamented.) Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti went the same route, while San Francisco’s London Breed put her weight behind Mike “stop-and-frisk” Bloomberg. So did Stockton's Michael Tubbs. What is it with California politicians and centrist candidates?

We then look at the Bernie Sanders surge, in which the socialist senator from Vermont appears poised to make a splash in the Democratic presidential primary’s early states. In California, three of the last four polls show him ahead by 3-4 points. Meanwhile, the latest New Hampshire poll shows Bernie at a whopping +12 against the field. And then there's the CNN national poll, which showed him three points ahead of Biden. Ultimately, it feels increasingly like Iowa will tell us what comes next. And polls there have been all over the place.

Lastly, we discuss the silly assertion that Democrats and Republicans alike make about “populist threats,” in which they try to glom the Bernie Sanders campaign in with President Donald Trump’s white nationalist following. Some well-known California politicos have been drawing such lines, as you’ll learn in this week’s reading segment. We take a moment to have a little fun with these claims.

Thanks for listening, and as always:

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