2015: Bernie Sanders calls open borders a “Koch Brothers proposal.”
Bernie Sanders: “Open Borders? That’s a Koch Brothers proposal. Open borders is a right-wing proposal which says, essentially, that there is no United States.”
Ezra Klein: “–But it would make a lot of the global poor richer.”
Sanders: “Yes, but it would make everyone in America poorer. You’re doing away with the nation-state.”
Even if he is a socialist, at least he’s got some common sense.
Right?
Well, apparently he lost that common sense at some point over the past five years.
(Side note: why do so many “men” these days talk like Ezra Klein? That nerdy, effeminate voice. Why is that such a common trait of guys who work in the media?)
2020: Bernie Sanders wants open borders and government benefits for everyone who takes advantage of the open borders:
What happened to the guy from 2015?
***
My opposition to Bernie stems mostly from the fact that he appears to have been almost entirely co-opted by the Beast: he’s not the populist he once was. He’s now saying the federal government should begin (more like continue) showering illegal immigrants with All The Benefits and gibs.
He used to be unique on the left in that he rejected the idea that America could have a generous welfare state and open borders at the same time.
But now he’s fallen in line with the rest of them: open borders and free stuff for everyone.
If Bernie was still Insurgent Bernie, railing against illegal immigration because it’s bad for the American worker, I might actually be able to passively endorse his supposed hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. It’s not a bad thing for the sole existing anti-immigration Democrat politician to take over the party.
If Bernie truly was the insurgent outsider he’s portrayed as in the media, that would be great news for everyone. Even if he’s a leftist, the enemy of the Establishment is a friend of ours, albeit not a very strong one.
But Bernie Sanders has been compromised. He’s basically a generic mainstream Dem. He capitulated to the Establishment. He’s one of them now.
In other words, Bernie isn’t bad because he’s a Radical Leftwing Populist whose views are unprecedented in American history, but because he’s become a mainstream Establishment Democrat.
The way to beat Bernie is to point out that he’s a sellout. Open Borders Bernie wants to flood the country with illegals and shower them with free stuff.