Coronavirus may turn Joe Biden into 'Bernie Sanders squared,' Gary Hart says

The COVID-19 pandemic may change everything about this 2020 presidential race — including its now-presumptive Democratic nominee.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suspended his 2020 run on Wednesday, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the only remaining Democrat in the race. But even though there are major ideological differences between Biden and Sanders, "the plague has changed everything," former Democratic senator and two-time presidential candidate Gary Hart tells Politico.

The new coronavirus pandemic has spurred trillions of dollars in federal spending with more sure to come, including the funding of public welfare programs that wouldn't be out of place in Sanders' democratic socialist platform. That, combined with the current economic and health care crises, should push Sanders to recognize that ideological differences between himself and Biden have become obsolete and that beating President Trump is what matters most, Hart told Politico. Debates between progressivism and centrism mattered in January, but now, "Joe Biden may end up being Bernie Sanders squared just by circumstance," Hart said.

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Like Sanders, Hart "mobilized a younger generation of voters while losing the nomination" in both 1984 and 1988, as did Howard Dean in 2004. Dean recommended Sanders campaign wholeheartedly for Biden through the November election, telling Politico "what Bernie does will make a difference." After all, Dean told Politico that he "worked my ass off" after losing the nomination to John Kerry — not that it turned the tides in the end.