Senator Bernie Sanders has officially confirmed that he will be running for president as a Democratic nominee in the upcoming 2020 presidential elections. Sanders' camp also released a 10-minute official announcement video on social media, which included an outline of his platform and a couple of pot shots at big corporations and the country's current president, Donald Trump.
Sanders explained in his video that one of the main reasons why he has decided to once again run for president is to oppose President Donald Trump. The 77-year-old politician even openly called the current president as the most "dangerous president" in modern American history. In the video, Sanders also called Trump a pathological liar, a racist, a sexist, a homophobe, and a xenophobe.
Aside from criticizing Trump, Sanders also outlined his many progressive ideas, which include universal health care coverage, higher minimum wages, and reduced student loans. Majority of his platform is the same things he previously promised during his 2016 bid for the presidency. During that time, Sanders was considered to be the only serious contender against fellow Democratic candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sanders managed to win 23 primaries and caucuses, but it proved to be inadequate to win him the position.
Sanders will be facing quite a lot of challenges in the upcoming elections, given that there are already more than a dozen Democratic candidates that have expressed their serious interest. Among the leading challengers, Sanders will likely have the most difficult time facing off against his colleagues in the country's Senate; namely from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Cory Brooker (D-NJ), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Sanders will also have to beat other prominent Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden, who is also reportedly considering running for president in the upcoming elections.
Despite having to face stiff competition from his own party, Sanders is currently a frontrunner in the Democratic primary season. The self-described democratic socialist ranks at the top of early 2020 election polls nationwide. The very same polls have also shown that Sanders is significantly more popular with the public than Donald Trump.
Trump recently told reporters that he thought Sanders had "missed his time" in the previous elections. Despite having opposite views on several agendas, Trump did acknowledge that he "sort of" agrees with Sander's view on trade. While Sanders is against various US free trade deals, he does have a tough stance against large corporations and businesses within the country, including Wall Street, multinational corporations, drug companies, fossil fuel industries, and other conglomerates.
