# What would the Trump-Sanders debates be like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 10, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745 "2016-02-10T19:17:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/41 "2016-02-11T19:23:49Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I’m not a Sanders supporter but I think there’s wriggle room here. > > As I understand it, Sanders is not saying “let’s eliminate nuclear power and then figure out how to make it up from alternative energy sources”. Rather, he’s saying “let’s do so much developing alternative energy sources that we will no longer need nuclear power and can eliminate it”. The dispute was not whether Sanders has what he thinks is a plausible alternative that would allow us to eliminate nuclear power. What was claimed was, that he didn’t want to eliminate nuclear power. He does; he’s said as much. > [@](#): > > The bigger picture is that you would certainly expect a Sanders administration to be hostile to nuclear power. But I don’t know if you can pin it on him directly.Why is this an “obvious fact”? Because he has called for the complete elimination of nuclear power. How much more obvious can you get? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/42 "2016-02-11T20:22:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > The dispute was not whether Sanders has what he thinks is a plausible alternative that would allow us to eliminate nuclear power. What was claimed was, that he didn’t want to eliminate nuclear power. He does; he’s said as much. In that case it would be a pointless dispute. Everybody would want to eliminate nuclear power if they could come up with something better. I think in context when you talk about whether someone wants to eliminate nuclear power you mean “at the present time and based on alternatives currently available”. > [@](#): > > Because he has called for the complete elimination of nuclear power. How much more obvious can you get? Reread my post. The “obvious fact” part was about a completely different matter. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/43 "2016-02-11T20:26:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :rolleyes: Yes, I do. Do you honestly think “free trade” is an issue with enough grassroots support to carry a third-party or independent candidacy? No but that coupled with “moderate” policies and backed by money will most certainly produce a third viable candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/44 "2016-02-11T20:39:07Z")
OK, I’ll say it explicitly, then. I’m a Sanders supporter. I agree that that statement constitutes “wanting to completely eliminate nuclear power”. I disagree with that position. I support Sanders in spite of, not because of, this position. Sanders falls short of what I would consider an ideal candidate in at least this regard, and probably in a number of other ways I can’t be bothered with right now as well. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/45 "2016-02-11T20:45:35Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > No but that coupled with “moderate” policies and backed by money will most certainly produce a third viable candidate. And what megadonors would want to invest their money in something as quixotic and hopeless as a third-party bid for the presidency? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/46 "2016-02-11T20:47:33Z")
Michael Bloomberg. He’s pretty much said he’s thinking of running as an independent. And I think what that means is that if it’s Trump (or possibly Cruz) vs Sanders then he leans to running. If it’s mainstream candidates then he doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/47 "2016-02-11T20:49:31Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Michael Bloomberg. > > He’s pretty much said he’s thinking of running as an independent. And I think what that means is that if it’s Trump (or possibly Cruz) vs Sanders then he leans to running. If it’s mainstream candidates then he doesn’t. And if it’s Trump/Cruz v. Clinton, what does Bloomberg do? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/48 "2016-02-11T20:54:11Z")
I don’t know what his calculations are. I gave the most clear-cut situations. My guess is that he would have to carefully assess what the primaries say about Clinton’s weaknesses as a candidate. Personally, I think he has a very good chance to win as the “sane alternative” against Trump/Cruz and Sanders. Not so much with a mainstream candidate of either party in the mix. But my impression is that he feels Clinton is being exposed as a weak candidate, though I don’t know if that’s enough for him to jump in. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/49 "2016-02-11T21:20:20Z")
Trump: Bernie I love you like the Bubbeh I never had. But do the American people want their Bubbeh in the WH? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/50 "2016-02-11T21:52:49Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > In that case it would be a pointless dispute. Everybody would want to eliminate nuclear power if they could come up with something better. > > I think in context when you talk about whether someone wants to eliminate nuclear power you mean “at the present time and based on alternatives currently available”. I think it is a meaningless distinction. Bernie says he wants to eliminate nuclear power. He says so on his website. Along come some posters who say ‘no, Bernie never said he wanted to eliminate nuclear power’. The fact that Bernie thinks there is an alternative does not mean he is not saying nuclear power should be eliminated. > [@](#): > > Reread my post. The “obvious fact” part was about a completely different matter. My apologies for the mistake. Please consider my response to the part quoted before - Sanders is certainly directly responsible for his own desire to eliminate nuclear power, and I would think that was obvious. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/51 "2016-02-11T23:32:23Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > … I’m not convinced he’s antisemitic. My experience is that people who are cavalier in racial/ethnic/gender stereotypes very often don’t stop at just one. … I’d be mildly surprised if Trump doesn’t stereotype Jews, along with the Irish, the French, and Australians. Sounds about right to me. He’s not a life-long hatemonger; he’s just a situational one (because it has been paying off so very well). > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Sherrerd > > No basis other than the obvious fact that many of Trump’s fans would love him to give them a bit of veiled anti-Semitism, delivered in his trademark passive-aggressive style. And he does have a track record of giving his fans what they want, ethnic-hatred-wise. > > Why is this an “obvious fact”? It’s obvious to me based on footage of Trump rallies (specifically, the response of the crowds to various passive-aggressive hostile-to-non-whites remarks that Trump has assayed). Of course I see these responses through the lens of finding Trump less than admirable. For those seeing him through a different lens, the term “obvious fact” will, clearly, grate. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/52 "2016-02-12T02:09:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And what megadonors would want to invest their money in something as quixotic and hopeless as a third-party bid for the presidency? Every one from Koch to Soros. In a race with Bernie Sanders, it is impossible to be the quixotic one. Sanders whole existence is saying that money controls politics. Are you suggesting that he is wrong and the “elites” will not back a candidate this round? Please don’t say Trump will have their support, that’s ridiculous. You are applying standard election cliches to a situation in which DONALD TRUMP and BERNIE SANDERS are the major party nominees. This thread is based on pure speculation, so my prediction will likely not be tested, but to suggest the establishment will sit out a presidential election displays an ignorance of American history. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/53 "2016-02-12T14:12:27Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > It’s obvious to me based on footage of Trump rallies (specifically, the response of the crowds to various passive-aggressive hostile-to-non-whites remarks that Trump has assayed). It’s hard to argue with something as vague and subjective as that, though I would suggest based on what you write that you’re foisting your own ideological paradigm on people who don’t necessarily share it. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/54 "2016-02-13T00:38:53Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > I would love to see them campaign against each other for the entertainment value. It’s also hilarious that if they were to be the nominees Muslims would have the choice of voting for Trump or a Jew. I would even be rooting for it to happen if it wasn’t for the small factor that one of these two demagogues would end up as our president as a result. It’s OK! Mike Bloomberg would jump in to give them an alternative! I mean, sure, he’s Jewish, but he wasn’t born on Long Island, so that’s something!(More seriously, most Muslims would vote for Sanders over Trump, surely.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/55 "2016-02-13T00:45:05Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > Whatever energy we have in the future, it will be produced by industry, not those who stand on the sidelines ranting about industry. For a clean energy advocate, you sound like an anti-Clean Air Act coal-power defender right now. Wind & solar are going to be cheaper and easier to sell to constituents than nuclear. Nuclear power was the most expensive power production there was in the last century. It has massive overhead and it’s hard to build up in modular micro-installations. Besides, Bernie is pro-fusion-power, he’s just smart enough to use the natural fusion reactor eight light-minutes away. 😉 Bernie is not anti-industry, relax. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/56 "2016-02-13T00:49:06Z")
> [@Hank\_Beecher](#): > > “Transitioning toward a completely nuclear-free clean energy system for electricity, heating, and transportation” is advocating for the elimination of nuclear power, as is his call to enact “a moratorium on nuclear power plant license renewals in the United States”. Yeah, since Japan reversed course on nuclear power post-Fukushima, it’s a hard time for anyone in the nuclear power industry. But it’s going to be a hard time with or without Bernie Sanders. You’re just scapegoating him because you want someone to blame. Blame the architects at Fukushima, or the management at nuke plants in Vermont that had repeated scandals. This is where the world is going, whatever political faction wins. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745/57 "2016-02-13T00:59:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And what megadonors would want to invest their money in something as quixotic and hopeless as a third-party bid for the presidency? A-all of them? > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Every one from Koch to Soros. In a race with Bernie Sanders, it is impossible to be the quixotic one. Yeah, the real question is whether Soros, Perot, and Bloomberg would go in together on a candidate or all back different hopeless cases. The Kochs would back Cruz, I think, I don’t know what they’d do with Trump. The Waltons might be the other way around, OK with Trump and not Cruz. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-trump-sanders-debates-be-like/745745.md?page=2)