The Political Insider

Fox News played a portion of an interview with Donald Trump on Thursday’s “Special Report,” in which the president says he thinks the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination is mostly race between former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. President Trump said he would be “happy” to run against either one of them.

“I’d be very happy if it were Biden,” Trump said. “I just don’t think he’d be a very good candidate… I wish him well. I’d like him to get it. I’d be happy.”

“I’d be happy with Bernie,” Trump added. “I personally think it’s those two.”

While it’s hard to keep up with all the Democratic White House hopefuls that have joined the 2020 race, most polls consistently show that Biden and Sanders top the list.

Whichever candidate Democrats choose, if it does end up being Biden or Sanders, would be interesting.

Many consider Biden the safe choice, a moderate Democrat who has some of the same blue-collar appeal Trump had in 2016, and who isn’t as likely to scare away moderates and independent voters who might not like Trump but also don’t necessarily want to turn the country socialist.

Self-described socialist Sanders would be more satisfying to the hardcore Democratic base that drifts further left every day. In a party where radicals like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, and Ilhan Omar often set the tone, a Sanders nomination would be much more palatable than Biden.

Then again, in a Democratic Party defined largely by identity politics, would two old white guys be acceptable? Biden or even the more radical Sanders?

Whoever comes out on top in the army of candidates gunning to run against Trump, it could be one of the most fascinating elections in modern times, largely because the Democrats find themselves in the midst of a major identity crisis.

Who wouldn’t want to run against this mess of a party? No wonder President Trump would be “happy” either way.