Trump-Sanders debate would be Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare

Needless to say, if Sanders wins this primary it will wound Mrs. Clinton greatly. And Sanders chances to do just that would rise if this debate comes off. The contest would no doubt be the most-watched event in Sanders' political life and Clinton wouldn't even be there to defend herself. For a campaign that's been suffering a number of failures lately, its refusal to debate Sanders and setting off this alternative contest vs. Trump is perhaps the biggest failure yet. She can't even benefit from a sympathy factor if Trump and Sanders get too nasty in attacking her in absentia, because her absence is entirely her own fault.

It's also not wise for Clinton to allow any major campaign event to occur without her participation. With many right wing and progressive voters still hoping she may be disqualified from the race if she is indicted over her State Department email scandal, this kind of "Clinton-less" event gives them a taste of what they've been praying for all year.

It would no longer matter if Hillary had more delegates, she would be marginalized as irrelevant, passé, extraneous to the process of picking the next President.
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Hillary will only have more delegates come convention-time if the Superdelegates that have indicated (not “pledged”) support to her continue to hold that view in July.

VERY IMPORTANT: Superdelegates to the Dem convention can all cast their votes for Jim Robinson on the first ballot and any subsequent ballots if the choose to do so. Far more likely would be a switch from Hillary to Bernie or perhaps Biden.

As it stands, neither Hillary or Bernie will have enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination on their own. So it will be the Superdelegates who choose the Dem nominee.

Maybe they will make a wise decision and choose Jim Robinson.

I'm not so sure that it still won't be a cakewalk for Hillary. Nobody every went broke betting on the abject stupidity of the American people.

But I do believe a DJT-Bernie debate before the California primary would boost both their chances.

There are a lot of people on the other side of the spectrum as sick of what the Democrat party has done to them as their are on our side sick of what the GOP has done to us. Probably not as many, because they aren't as bright, but still a lot.

Possible outcomes:

1)Sanders goes after Trump and scores big. Hillary still has the nomination locked up so Bernie doesn't benefit. Trump, on the other hand, gets wounded and never regains momentum. Looks like Hillary wins this one.

2)Sanders goes after Trump and goes down in flames. Trump gains some undecideds but loses those disaffected Bernie supporters who might have voted for him. It's a squeaker but Hillary still wins this one.

3)Bernie and Trump smile for the cameras and blather about nothing at all. No one wins the debate, but Hillary wins the election.

4)Bernie and Trump collude and go after Hillary. Probably the best scenario for Trump, but will Bernie go along with this? And can he be trusted? This is potentially the most profitable for Trump, also the most fraught with risk. Someone will say "yeah, that's Trump's style - high risk, high return". But he wouldn't take any risk without a reasonable chance of success.

I have said that Bernie was promoted as Hillary's stalking horse. Maybe he's not, never was. Or at least not since he had such success in the primaries. Does he still think he can influence this election? He could help Trump bring Hillary down, but does that help Bernie? If Hillary were gone, Trump would eat his lunch in November.

Unless he's POTUS, Bernie will be totally irrelevant this time next year - can you say Lieberman? I'm sure he's considered that, too.

I've maybe missed some possibilities, but if I was Trump, or even if I was Bernie, I'd pass on this idea.

On second thought, I might be wrong on this.
I just thought of a benefit to debating Sanders....
I have family in NH and Trump is not particularly popular there with East Coast GOP voters.

They don’t hate him...but they are suspicious of him.
A super performance against Sanders could push NH RED.
A serious gamble but I can see the logic in it.

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