You would think that after a few decades in politics, a person might develop some kind of sixth sense for candidates who are going to blow up in spectacular fashion. Bernie Sanders appears to have developed the opposite: a homing beacon for the most problematic people running for office in any given cycle.
As USA Journal laid out in detail, the Vermont senator's 2026 endorsement roster reads less like a political strategy and more like a casting call for a reality show nobody asked for. The headliner is Graham Platner, a candidate who had a Nazi tattoo, a domestic abuse history, and a sexual assault allegation. Sanders attended his campaign events, vowed to do "everything I can" to get him elected, and kept promoting him on social media after each new scandal emerged. That is commitment, folks. Misguided, baffling commitment, but commitment nonetheless.
Platner is just the appetizer. In Utah, Sanders backed Nate Blouin for a House seat, calling him "a fighter." Then Blouin's old Reddit posts surfaced featuring jokes about filming pornography with an underage sister, slurs, and a threat to "skull f**k" Mormons. Salt Lake City's mayor told him to drop out. He stayed in and got absolutely demolished, pulling 24% to Ben McAdams' 60%. A fighter indeed.
Over in New Jersey, Sanders-adjacent candidate Adam Hamawy, who has documented ties to one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing masterminds, actually won his primary and is now the Democratic nominee for a congressional seat. That one really writes its own punchline.
The list keeps going. Randy Villegas racked up $14 million in abuse settlements as a school board member. Melat Kiros claimed 9/11 was inevitable. Peter Chatzky's old Facebook posts about paying Melania Trump for sex ended his campaign before it really started. And then there is Tom Steyer, the billionaire Sanders endorsed after spending his entire career railing against billionaires buying elections. Steyer poured $215 million of his own money into the California governor's race and finished third. Third! You could light $215 million on fire and at least get a viral video out of it.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania summed it up pretty well: "I don't know why you want to keep pushing these kinds of people. Maybe he should consider sitting a few out and stop pushing these kinds of communists."
At some point, you have to stop calling it bad luck. One questionable endorsement is a mistake. Two is a pattern. Whatever number Sanders is at now requires a new word entirely. The man has turned candidate vetting into an extreme sport where the goal is apparently to find the person with the most disqualifying baggage and then film a campaign video with them.
The Democratic Party could push back on this. They could establish some basic screening process. They could politely ask the senator from Vermont to maybe Google a person before recording an endorsement. But based on the current trajectory, they are going to keep letting it happen. And the rest of us are going to keep watching with a mixture of horror and fascination, like a nature documentary where every animal makes the worst possible decision.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
