Senator Bernie Sanders (I) failed for the second time to take over a political party of which he was not a member. The reasons for his failure are not something that is easily testable. Every election is a one-off with many unique variables but I think there are few reason assumptions that can reached.

Sanders did quite well in the 2016 primary battle against Hillary Clinton but the vote level he achieved were not an indication of his own or his ideas popularity but a mixture of those who supported him for his stands and those voting for him because he was not Clinton. I don’t think Bernie ever quite understood just how much of his success, and that success was still less popular than Hillary Clinton’s, was an expression of a desire for someone, anyone, other than the former Secretary of State. This led Bernie into thinking that for 2020 he had a much higher base to build upon and feeds into his misguided plan of attack to win the nomination, a popular political revolution.

When asked throughout this extended campaign season how he was going to enact his seeping and revolutionary policies Sanders responded that his candidacy was going to energize and mobilize a vast number of people who had never participated in the political process. This wave of new voters would sweep into power not just Sanders but an entire new class of elected officials that shared his philosophy and would remake the face of American politics.

Bernie’s army never materialized at the polls.

Without his mythical army of new voters Sanders exposed as a factional candidate and he failed to adapt to this. Instead of seeing that his core message and support was limiting his ability to grow his voter base and win the nomination Bernie ‘doubled down’ on his message and relied on stubbornness and his own power of personality to take over the Democratic party. You can respect him for staying committed to his ideals, to refusing to show any sign of compromise, but in the Democratic party as it is currently constituted that is far from enough to win majority support.

None of this underscores the effect Sanders has had on American politics. He has dragged the Democratic party to the left and the policies proposed by other candidates and getting wide support are much further to the left than anything since before the rise of Reaganism and had Bernie himself been willing to meet the party part way he may have done better but he did not.