In the United States right now there seem to be two massive political movements growing in numbers: Trump’s MAGA movement and the Bernie Sanders “Not me, Us” government of the people movement.
In New Hampshire just before the Tuesday primary in that state, these two candidates held the largest rallies to take place in the days before the primary. The video footage from each rally is below.
If Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic Party nomination, Bernie and his supporters will be up against: Donald Trump, numerous Trump surrogates, millions of Trump supporters, the establishment media, the conservative media, disgruntled Democrats, Hillary Clinton who is still doing the talk-show circuit, former Hillary supporters, the Democratic Party establishment, the Republican Party, dozens of billionaires, numerous corporations, the healthcare industrial complex, the military industrial complex, and others.
UPDATE: Below is a statement from Bernie Sanders from three days after this article was published, that emphasizes the struggle outlined above. (Video Source: The Hill, 13 Feb 2020)
There is a billion-dollar Internet and media campaign that is described as “heavily funded, technologically sophisticated, and staffed with dozens of experienced operatives. … [on the] 14th floor of a gleaming, modern office tower in Rosslyn, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. … Presiding over this effort is Brad Parscale, a 6-foot-8 Viking of a man with a shaved head and a triangular beard. As the digital director of Trump’s 2016 campaign.” (source)
In addition to his direct opponents, Sanders will need to contend with the 100 million people who don’t vote – a total of approximately 160 million people who don’t vote or who will likely vote for Trump. It will be one of the most formidable political battles in modern history.
Here’s an example of the challenges that Sanders will face… You can quickly and easily go to YouTube and find very high quality video of the complete Trump New Hampshire rally provided by ABC, NBC, CBS, and other major news outlets. At the time of this article being posted, if you search YouTube for the Bernie rally video, you will discover there is a media blackout of that event and the only recording is the one created by the Sanders campaign, and because these are regular working class people, they don’t have huge budgets for video production, so the audio and visual quality are sometimes poor. This is not a criticism, it’s simply an effort to illustrate the imbalance of resources that will make it challenging for Sanders and his supporters.
There are certainly other scenarios that could play out other than what’s been described above. Other frontrunners could overtake Sanders, and those scenarios would break down the electoral tug of war differently. Pete Buttigieg had a good showing in Iowa. Michael Bloomberg has been doing well at the start of his campaign. Yet, at present, the trajectory points to a Sanders vs. Trump election. Sanders has been campaigning, fundraising, and building his base non-stop across the country since 2015 so it will be difficult for other candidates to compete with his massive organization. The New Hampshire election will provide some extra insight.
Bernie Sanders – Rally Video
The video of the Bernie Sanders rally is queued up to 1h 43m to start as Bernie enters the stadium to the song “Power to the People” by John Lennon. Approximately 7,500 supporters cheered as Sanders came on stage with his wife and 7 family members – his children and grand children.
Donald Trump – Rally Video
As was mentioned above, there are numerous high quality videos of the full Trump rally: ABC (1h 37m), Bloomberg (1h 2m), CBS (1h 51m), NBC (2h 1m). The ABC version is shared here because the audio and video quality seems to be the best. You’ll find the common and familiar themes in Trump’s speech, such as the media is the enemy of the people, and attacks on his opponents.
Trump Rally Photo
The photo below provides an overview of the stadium crowd of approximately 12,000 people according to Donald Trump, at 6 minutes and 35 seconds into the video above. (source) The photo is provided here because no similar viewpoint is offered in the rally videos.
