Bernie Sanders and his supporters need to rally behind Hillary Clinton.

For the greater good of the country, the Sanders brigade need to hold their noses and vote for Hillary

Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee. I’m not even going to use qualifiers such as “all but confirmed” or “as good as”, because the numbers speak for themselves: Clinton has 2,383 delegates (the winning threshold) to Bernie Sanders’ 1,569 (814 short). It’s a matter of when and not if. Donald Trump already has the GOP nomination. The Democrats need to clarify their position, and soon.

No one doubts that Bernie Sanders has put up a good fight. Like many others, I predicted an easy path to the nomination for Clinton, but Sanders mixture of radicalism and populism has kept the race wide open for most of the campaign. The inconvenient truth for Sanders loyalists, however, is that Clinton has a significantly higher percentage of the popular vote than the Vermont senator (granted, she had more votes than Obama in 2008, but it’s still a sign that Sanders isn’t actually the overwhelming favourite for Democrats). Worryingly, the longer the race drags on, the more beneficial it is to Donald Trump.

Perhaps the UK polling predictions of 2015 have made me more sceptical about polling reports, but I don’t believe the following polling forecast for a second: that Bernie Sanders would beat Donald Trump while Clinton would lose. I’m not just advocating a vote for Hillary in a Presidential election because it’s better than voting for Trump; I genuinely believe that she’d make a good President, and Sanders wouldn’t. When watching debates between Clinton and Sanders, the Vermont senator obviously has the upper hand in terms of playing to the crowd, but like Jeremy Corbyn in the UK he is promising the world with no hope of delivering it. Too many people are ignoring the simple fact that both the House and the Senate are controlled by the Republican Party. Does Bernie Sanders seriously think that he can deliver on his promises with the troublesome and pernickety GOP?

Bernie’s run for office has certainly helped the democratic process. It’s stopped Hillary from simply being ‘anointed’, and has pushed her in to action on certain issues. My fear is not just that this campaign will drag on, but that the supporters of Bernie will not vote for or support Hillary when she gets the nomination out of spite. Any act such as this which could make a Donald Trump victory more likely is one that should be avoided at all costs. Trump’s outrageous quotes and proposals are well documented, and don’t need repeating here. I genuinely shudder at the thought of Trump giving his inauguration speech in January 2017. Why gamble with that?

There’s a place for idealism in politics, but it inevitable has to be tempered with pragmatism. Hillary’s ‘incrementalism’ may be groaned at, but until the Democrats are in a position to control both Houses of Congress, it’s a necessary evil. America deserves better than Donald Trump. I don’t believe that Bernie Sanders would run as a third party candidate, but if he did it would be the death knell for a Democratic win this year.

Bernie Sanders has put up a courageous and noble fight, but it’s time for him and his supporters to get their acts together. The real enemy is Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton.

Picture copyright: thehill.com