I think Trump would have beaten Bernie even worse than he beat Hillary. He was able to brand her “Lyin’ Hillary” and get it to stick, even though he without question told more lies than any other politician in history. Surely Trump could have easily gotten “Commie Bernie” to stick, despite Trump himself being the one in bed with the Communist superpowers. His simplistic bullying tactics proved extremely effective, and it will be a while before the rest of the national political landscape reaches his level of efficacious insolence.