I think I would find this suggestion by your viewer funny if it wasn’t for the nauseating coverage this past week about Oprah thinking about running for president in 2020. In the past I have dismissed this as nonsense (because every four years there is someone who suggests Oprah should run for office) but … Donald J Trump is our president. Due to the fact that many of us are so outrage fatigued, I no longer am sure I can trust my fellow left-leaning United States citizens to make good choices. Thank you for NOT talking about the 2020 elections (please warn us when the time is near), thank you for NOT talking about Oprah this past week (unless I missed it), and while we wait for the looming craziness that the 2020 campaign will most certainly bring, I think thoughtful discussion needs to be made about the difference between the cult of personality and actual policies.
The way I see it, no matter who is chosen as the democratic presidential candidate in 2020 (Bernie or otherwise) I am sure they will find a way to destroy him/her by using Trumps playbook of 2016 (Note that I really am assuming that Trump will not run again in 2020 because I, as a clinical therapist, truly believe he is in the early stages of dementia). Looking at his playbook, it almost seems predictable what they will do: whatever we are legitimately accusing members of the Trump/Pence administration of, they will turn around and accuse the Democratic candidate of as well. Your viewer is right – it is a great possibility that they will not only accuse Bernie of cognitive decline, they will accuse him of collusion with Russia and god knows what else. The media needs to come up with a plan – and as you suggested earlier this week - perhaps take some lessons from Dutch reporters.