The 'Never Bernie' apocalypse is coming, Dem insiders warn

These Democrats are feeling Berned out.Democratic donors and party insiders are warning that large swaths of their voters could stay home — or even defect to Trump — if Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders snags the nomination.“I’ll still put a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on my car, but a lot of people won’t,” said Jim Kessler, executive vice president for policy at Third Way, a Democratic think tank not aligned with any candidate. With few major legislative achievements, he was largely dismissed as a Senate sideshow — until his breakout performance in the 2016 Democratic primary.“For Democrats to win, the election must be a referendum on Trump and not a debate about socialism,” Michael Kempner, a longtime Democratic donor who has cut checks for Biden and Buttigieg, told The Post. She refused to commit to Sanders’ candidacy, telling the Hollywood Reporter last month she’s “not going to go there yet.” She later put out a statement saying she would support whoever the nominee was.News also emerged Friday of DNC members privately discussing rules to prevent a Sanders nomination at the Democratic convention, according to Politico.Brazile herself famously leaked debate questions to Hillary Clinton in an effort to tilt the scales in her favor against Sanders in 2016, and has long been viewed with suspicion by progressive diehards.