Prolonging the Democratic primaries while we are trying to defeat Donald Trump is just like wasting time in-fighting with our allies while the greatest threat we all face enjoys a strategic advance over his opponents. The enemy is garnering universal support from his party much sooner, lending him an early advantage in the general election. The incumbent is able to enjoy a funding advantage, which fuels every facet of his campaign, from staffing, GOTV efforts, multimedia advertising, better logistical support, and so on. It was imperative that Democrats unified sooner rather than later. They did a good job of getting to the nominee quickly, and that was important considering the current situation with a fascist President that threatens the very core of our Democracy.

The Democratic candidates got this one right. After it was clear that one candidate emerged as a strong nominee in the aftermath of a convincing South Carolina victory, moderate Democrats quickly dropped out of the race to endorse Joe Biden. At the time, Bernie Sanders still had a shot and reasonably remained in the race. After Super Tuesday, the delegate spread between Biden and Bernie began to widen in Joe Biden’s favor. After a handful of subsequent primaries, even progressive stalwart Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign in mid-April, clearing the path for Biden to become the presumptive nominee. Days later, April 13, 2020, amid pushback against Biden from Bernie supporters, Bernie Sanders, against the odds, offers a heartwarming endorsement of his longtime colleague in the Senate. With a noticeable charismatic countenance, Sanders assured Biden that he would work hard to help Biden win the support of his followers. And a day later, Barack Obama announced his endorsement of Joe Biden while going to length to praise Senator Sanders as a champion of progressive causes and working class Americans who has worked hard to push America forward. The former President was sincere in his gratitude of Bernie Sanders ideas and policy positions and the work he has done to move us in a more progressive direction.

In contrast to 2016 while running the first time against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders did not take this fight to the convention and he endorsed Joe Biden, the frontrunner in the race to become the Democratic nominee months before the convention. Obama then eloquently promised the country Biden would be the candidate to work to push the country forward by pushing for structural changes to our nations’ institutions and laws. The Democratic Party is making the case they are willing to work with all factions of the party to unite against the greatest threat we’ve faced since our country’s founding.

Trump is by far the greatest threat to our democracy and the Party understands that. Not only will we not get structural changes with four more years of Trump, we will see a down-spiral in our democracy. The greatest danger to our country was not the first four years of Trump. It’s the second four years of Trump when, if he is re-elected, will be considered a lame duck. We’ve seen Trump’s underlying instincts lavishing praise on evil dictators around the world, bullying the media, threatening judges, firing leaders of executive agencies for actually carrying out the functions of their respective agencies, stacking the courts with conservative ideologues, calling a group of Nazi protestors fine people, ordering immigrant kids in cages, committing impeachable offenses, and so on. A second term will only enable him to enact his authoritarian instincts, and in addition to the possibility of this country not achieving significant structural changes, we also risk salvaging the few things that have made our country great. The Democrats understand we cannot allow philosophical purity to undermine upholding the Democratic underpinnings of our nation.