Ignoring 2016 completely, if this was his first campaign, he still wouldn't be a good candidate.

By his own admission, he is a chaos candidate. He wants a revolution.

In 2020, that isn't what we need. We need to save the last revolution, repair damage caused by Trump, and rebuild alliances.

A uniter, not a bomb thrower.

If anything, being a "uniter" with the GOP is bad. Historically it means things like a "grand bargain" to cut social security and medicare. Whether he has a record of legislative accomplishments is debatable, but it's certainly true that his voting record is very solidly progressive, with the exception of gun control.

Is a "uniter" more likely to beat Trump than a "bomb-thrower"? That's not clear either way.

I decided I couldn’t stand Bernie 8 years ago when he wanted Obama primaried.

...and even today, after the half-hearted apology (Teachout hasn't apologized, Sirota hasn't apologized) Gray persisting in calling Biden corrupt?

It's basically paving the road for Trump to attack Biden in the general election. Which is my point. Without this kind of thing, he'd be a great candidate.

I don't think his apology was "half-hearted", it seemed pretty solid to me. But he must understand that with people like Sirota and Gray on his campaign, this stuff will keep happening.

I think he could make all the same points he is currently making, including criticizing the Democratic Party as a whole for moving to the right economically and away from unions and working people, without his surrogates explicitly calling other candidates corrupt.

....if the apology didn't sink in with even his top people it wasn't strong enough. Until he gets HIS people to drop this and apologize, maybe it wasn't "half-hearted" but it certainly wasn't sincere.

I will support the nominee of the party but I strongly doubt that sanders will be the nominee of the party. There are far too many real Democrats who have good memories and who will not forgive or forget

all the way to the convention....even after he lost. What did he expect would happen at the convention? I believe the chaos at the convention is exactly what he expected.

And the actual candidate they are supporting. (Or past candidate)

Also, I am positive that many of those Tweeters are Putin trolls, and Republican trolls. Not actual Democratic party voters. Sowing division is their primary purpose.

They say 12% of Sanders supporters (most who were I's that wouldn't vote Hillary anyways) did not vote for Hillary.
But double that, 24% of PUMAs vowed not to vote for Obama because they felt unfairly treated in that primary.
That's why its unfair to judge a candidate on their most fringe supporters and probably troll farm employees.

I look at the persons they are supporting. And it does not look good on Hillary to be throwing out school yard insults. While Sanders is committed to rising above that.

....beyond overzealous supporters around the country. This is still being promoted by his National Press Secretary and his Campaign Communications Director. There's not merely "supporters".

To date, the "corrupt" editorial is probably the most obvious case of unfounded attacks this campaign cycle from anyone closely associated with a campaign. It was so ridiculous that Sanders had to apologize for it. The campaign's dissemination of an edited video claiming the opposite of reality regarding Paul Ryan and Biden wasn't much better.

Social media certainly has its share of trolls, but many of the worst self-inflicted wounds are being caused by Sanders' staff and surrogates, not random people on social media.

been around long before Russian entered into.

voters and operatives have suggested the same. 2020 is not 2015. Hillary Clinton announced that she was going to be running for president in April,2016. It was a widely anticipated announcement and many people considered that she had a good chance of winning, despite prejudice against women. In 2015 Sanders was encouraging Warren to run against Hillary Clinton in a primary-Warren would have been a female alternative to Clinton.

Fast forward to 2020 election cycle: The circumstances have changed mightily and many voters have become fearful and adopt a more conservative stance.

Their argument is that we cannot afford to be "idealistic" and/ "egalitarian" when democracy itself is at stake.

Secondly they are trying to weave a path to victory in the general election by attracting more male voters in certain states and they believe their targeted voters are more prejudiced against a women attaining the presidency.

Sanders changing his mind from a view held in 2015 is entirely plausible.

He is the font of his movement.

He is the one who embraced fueling populist rage as his revolution's motivating principle.

It all comes from him.