Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” has predicted how the race to become the Democratic nominee in the 2020 election will play out.
And, in his view, it’s bad news for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Matthews suggested on Tuesday’s broadcast of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will “blow out” Sanders “pretty early on.”
He explained:
I think Elizabeth Warren can win Iowa, because she’s very aggressive, very progressive, activists show up. We know how it works. The more moderate people don’t show up that often. She goes to New Hampshire, home court. Then she goes to Nevada, a big labor state; she could win three in a row. She’s the one who could start really fast. I think she’ll blow out Bernie pretty early on. Bernie will lose his votes to her.
Matthews earlier described Warren as an “engine of ideas” who’d positioned herself cleverly:
I think she’s very careful to say, ‘I’m not a socialist, I’m a reformer. I want to fix things but I do believe in the market system is the basis and I want to redistribute the wealth, but I don’t want to just kill the wealth.’ I think she’s very smart and I think people are gonna listen to her. I think she’s going to be someone to watch.
Matthews said former Vice President Joe Biden’s trick will be to hang in there and “basically do rope-a-dope for four or five contests and still be in the race when he’s lost three or four up front.”
“He’ll appeal to the moderate, Southern kind of voters, more conservative Democrats,” he added. “He can hang in there.”
The November 2020 election will be “very close,” Matthews said, with both Biden and Warren possessing the ability to beat President Donald Trump at the ballot box. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, meanwhile, was “coming on strong.”
Biden currently leads national polls at 32.4%, per the Real Clear Politics website. Sanders is currently second with 15.2%, and Warren is third at 11.6%. Buttigieg is in fourth place at 7%.
Check out the interview here: