What will Bernie Sanders voters decide in the election this year?

Bernie Sanders may have issued his deeply reluctant endorsement of Joe Biden last week, but this does not mean his supporters will follow suit. His own spokeswoman balked at the attempt to sell fusionism, and I suspect her reservations reflect those of many Sanders voters who view Biden as the embodiment of the political establishment that their movement tried to dismantle. No one can expect Sanders voters to flock to Donald Trump, but there are reasons that it makes more sense than falling in line behind Biden. Democratic socialism, the ideology Sanders has espoused for his long career, is a dead end based on false premises and empty promises.

While “free everything” fantasies and expanded government control are the antithesis of what Trump stands for, Sanders voters have many of the same enemies as the “Make America Great Again” movement, namely an unaccountable elite promoting globalism and cratering the middle class. This is important today as we confront a deadly pandemic that highlights the failings of globalism, including corrupt international institutions such as the World Health Organization, too much reliance on foreign suppliers for essential products, and the dangers of allowing unregulated borders.

In his campaign, Sanders disavowed former commitments to immigration enforcement and downplayed his opposition to the free trade agenda. He instead focused on trying to be as “woke” as possible for progressives on race, gender, and sexual identity politics. Sanders walked back previous support for the Second Amendment. But none of it worked. Black voters favored Biden, and supporters of Elizabeth Warren tried to smear him as sexist. Yet it took a concerted effort by the Democratic establishment, as seen in the withdrawals of every remaining alternative to Biden, to cheat Sanders out of the Democratic nomination for the second time in a row.

If he stuck completely to his own principles, then Sanders would have been accused of acting too much like Trump. Funny how politics works. As Sanders supporters consider whether they can bring themselves to support a party that hurt their candidate so much, some of them might realize that Trump is the one candidate in this race who will deliver on their central aim of a prosperous and equal country run for the people.

Others will surely be tempted to hold their noses and vote for Biden, but I would point to the very similar experience of Trump with Republicans as a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to trust the political establishment of either party. Back in 2012, Trump made peace with Republicans in spite of his many disagreements with their approach. He decided that it was more important to beat Barack Obama than to be a purist, so he endorsed Mitt Romney, who lost anyway by running on a traditional Republican platform. But Romney still went on to attack his successor even after it had become clear that Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016 by rejecting many core elements of the brand of centrist establishment conservatism.

Sanders supporters need to know that compromising with establishment politicians offers no benefits, as Democrats have demonstrated twice now by rigging the primary contest against the one candidate who threatened to disrupt their status quo. Sanders surely had his own reasons to decide that he had no choice but to end his campaign and endorse Biden. Those who supported Sanders, however, do not face the same constraints. They have another choice left in this race, of course, and that choice is Trump.

Madison Gesiotto is an attorney who serves with the advisory board of the Donald Trump campaign. You can follow her on Twitter @MadisonGesiotto.