By Dylan R.N. Crabb

Hillary Clinton is now being called the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for the United States presidency and US Senator Bernie Sanders has been questioned several times about his plans for the remainder of the race.  The former US Secretary of State has publicly called for “uniting the Democratic Party” while the US senator from Vermont is refusing to concede while repeating to the public that the American people need to stop Donald Trump (the presumptive Republican Party nominee).  Despite an approximate 2.4 million votes remaining uncounted in California, Clinton has shifted her presidential campaign to face the Republican nominee, in preparation for the race for the general election this November.

After Clinton declared victory in California, Donald Trump attempted to appeal to supporters of Senator Sanders over Twitter, virtually shouting to the public (as we usually see from Trump’s Twitter profile) about a rigged electoral system.  Trump has railed against the country’s political status quo many times during his campaign for the presidency; it may be his best quality.  I have discussed the possibility of Bernie Sanders conceding to Hillary Clinton and the corporate Demcocrats with several Sanders supporters here in northern New Mexico, they have all told me that they would either write in Senator Sanders in protest or choose an option from a minor political party.  A few of these supporters even expressed relief about the thought of a Donald Trump presidency over a Hillary Clinton presidency.  At least Trump has expressed a consistent disatisfaction about the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal (as well as any other global trade deal).  Clinton has flip flopped so many times on the TPP and other issues, I’m not sure what she will do if she is elected the next president.  That duplicity may be Clinton’s worst quality – she has benefitted enormously from the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision, receiving large donations from the financial sector (in particular, Goldman Sachs) as well as individual billionaires like George Soros.  No matter what you may think about Donald Trump, I think most political scientists would agree that this election is a little bizarre.  Independent voters are going to play a crucial role considering that both presumptive party nominees are somewhat unpopular with the general public.