MSNBC's Morning Joe panel said Friday that while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) will lose the Democratic presidential nomination, he will change the Democratic Party, even if Hillary Clinton is leading it.
"If I were Hillary right now, I'd be like (shudders). Gee, I'm gonna win this, but that guy, he's got it," host Joe Scarborough said. "If he were sort of a party player and it was all cold and calculated and he was doing it to gain power, he'd strike the deal now. No, he's there to change the Democratic Party, to make it less corporate and make it less neoconservative."
Panelist John Heilemann said Sanders is attempting to take control of the Democratic Party away from Clinton.
"But she always thought she was going to run for president some point in the future. She wanted to run that party in 2016 or 2012, whenever, at some point," he said. "Bernie Sanders, 74 years old, never been a member of the Democratic Party, you know, he really has nothing to lose, he has no future game to play. He's not interested, he's never going to run for president again. He wants what he wants right now."
"He wants to change the party," Scarborough said.
"What I don't totally grasp is that there is not really a path for him to become the nominee, and I would guess that he has the most power at the moment when he could stay in, but chooses not to. So, I'm surprised that there isn't more of a deliberation about getting out," said Nicolle Wallace, a former aide to George W. Bush.
"But there's not, because this is a movement, in his mind. This is a revolution," Scarborough said. "He's here to change the Democratic party, even if he doesn't win ... This is about not only changing the party, it's about changing America and he's not going to make a cold, calculated decision based on his political future."
"He wants to change the platform. He wants to change the nature of the party and the leverage point in their view will be, get to Philadelphia with as many delegates as possible and then argue to change the platform," Heilemann said.
"You know, another way of putting it is, he wants to change the world," Scarborough said.