A new wildfire has ignited in the US, worse than the  recent out-of-control wildfires in Australia. This fire, rather than being fueled by dead trees and mismanaged forests, is instead fueled by Trump hatred and near dead politicians wishing to turn America into a communist dictatorship.

With the media, entertainment industry, and academia fanning the flames, the fire is raging across America, threatening to “Bern” down the Democrat party. A few unexpected firefighters, like Chris Matthews and James Carville, are warning about the all-consuming fire, but their words are squirt guns against a raging inferno.

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Bernie Sanders is leading the Democrat delegate count with 45 delegates, Pete Buttigieg is in second place with 25, Joe Biden with 15, and the two ladies are in single digits. The would-be savior of the Democrat party, Michael Bloomberg, who was recently a Republican, has no delegates yet.

It’s a long way to the summer convention and the nearly 2000 delegates needed to secure the nomination, but as of now, the nomination is Bernie Sanders’s to lose. South Carolina holds it primary February 29, in just a few days. The FiveThirtyEight aggregated polls show Biden at 30 percent, dropping from 40 percent where he was much of last fall. Sanders is close behind at 23 percent, Steyer at 13 percent and the rest of the clown show is in single digits.

This is Joe Biden’s last stand, much like at the Alamo, where Joe remembers fighting bravely with Corn Pop, his son the Attorney General, and Nelson Mandela. He recounts this story to a group of 15 supporters in a near empty high school gym as he asks for their support in his run for the US Senate.

Joking aside, this man was the Democrats’ great hope to defeat President Trump.  Instead, on display in an embarrassing manner is Biden’s early dementia. Allowing a former American vice-president and senator to be remembered not for his service to the country, but instead as a sad spectacle, is tragic. Yet his family seems willing to overlook this in their zeal to protect their own corruption and reputations

After South Carolina comes the March 3 Super Tuesday, 15 states including delegate-rich California and Texas. At this point its Sanders’s to lose or Bloomberg’s to buy, but as the Beatles sang, “Money can’t buy me love,” especially when Bloomberg has a serious #MeToo problem and some unwoke racial opinions.

Interestingly in the South Carolina debate, Bloomberg let slip briefly how he “bought” Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat House majority. I doubt many Bernie Bros are for sale.

The rest of the field is becoming increasing irrelevant. Warren plays the debate pit bull well, but beyond that she is as phony as a three-dollar bill, with many tall tales about her ancestry and so-called struggles.

Mayor Pete has no relevant experience, having made a mess of the small city he was once in charge of. If he weren’t gay, he wouldn’t be anywhere near the Democrat nomination. He serves as a checked box for woke Democrats. Other young white males, who are not gay, like Swalwell and O’Rourke, flamed out of their presidential aspirations early on.

Steyer is angry, which places him in the Democrat mainstream, but as a mere “Global Warming” and “Impeach Trump” candidate, he has no traction. Klobuchar is the sensible-shoes candidate, as exciting as the school librarian.

This leaves Bernie, with his army of young socialists and communists, ready for all the free stuff he promises. Bernie can’t even to this day denounce communist regimes, instead looking for the bright side of dictators who killed their own people.

In a manner of “Mussolini made the trains run on time” justification, he just this week defended Castro for his “literacy program.” I wonder what the kids were reading. The history of western civilization or the propaganda praising the wonders of Castro and communism? Other neighboring countries were also raising their literacy rates at the same time, without murdering their people.

Good luck to Bernie selling the wonders of Castro to Florida Democrats and anyone else aside from the hard-core Bernie Bros. His “free stuff” will also be challenging for him to defend on a debate stage with Donald Trump.

His programs are pushing a price tag of $100 trillion, or about $10 trillion per year, requiring a near tripling of federal expenditures by a government that is already spending a trillion dollars more than it takes in. We are already spending money we don’t have so why not spend even more? Even Bernie can’t explain it and the New York Times agrees that it “may not all add up.”

So where is the GOP elephant in the room, the current president? In the Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, President Trump, on February 25, sits at 52 percent total approval, compared to the easily reelected Barack Obama exactly eight years ago at 47 percent.

Democrats don’t like Rasmussen because of their accuracy in the 2016 election, so let’s get a second opinion from Gallup. They report Trump’s job approval steady at 49 percent, the highest of his presidency, despite Mueller, impeachment, and a constant barrage of negative media coverage.

Gallup also reports 61 percent saying they are better off than three years ago, with never more than half saying this in past election cycles. A CBS News poll reports nearly two-thirds of voters expect Trump to win reelection.

Gallup’s punch line:

“The significance of the trend is clear. An approval rating near 50% greatly increases Trump's chances of being re-elected, a prospect that seemed unlikely with his approval stuck near 40% for most of his term.”

Democrats face a reckoning. It’s not finding the candidate to beat Trump, but deciding who they want to lose with, as in McGovern or Mondale, to use past electoral sacrifices as examples.

Bernie has the potential to not only lose the general election, but to also Bern down the party with him, including Congress, state, and local elections. Democrats have so polarized the electorate that they are now in a box. Having nothing to offer voters other than “Orange Man Bad” they may be stuck with a communist candidate.

If they try to steal the nomination from Bernie, then many of his supporters may stay home or vote for Trump. And Bernie could form a third party, guaranteeing a Trump landslide.

All roads lead to the same outcome. By doing nothing besides opposing Trump and pushing their party left, Democrats have lit the match for Bernie to Bern the party down. What a show it will be. Some say it’s going to be biblical. Grab some popcorn and watch the fun.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a Denver based physician and freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in American Thinker, Daily Caller, Rasmussen Reports, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Twitter, and QuodVerum.