SPECTATOR US
The Democrats’ Catch-22 in the primaries
by Charles Lipson
June 28, 2019

The debates over two nights showed a party that has changed significantly since Hillary Clinton won the nomination in 2016. Back then, Bernie Sanders’s socialist positions were insurgent, outsider stances. Now, they are mainstream positions among top-tier Democratic candidates. That’s certainly true for Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar have tried to resist, but they, too, are being pulled left by party activists, where all the energy and campaign donations lie. READ MORE

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Marc Thiessen: The debates’ biggest losers? American taxpayers But where things get really expensive is the nexus between the Democrats’ spending plans and their immigration policies. During the first debate, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro said he would decriminalize illegal border crossings. When the candidates in the second debate were asked how many supported his plan, nearly every candidate’s hand went up.