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Notes -
I find it somewhat plausible.
Normal, centrist voters were definitely more wary of Sanders than of basically any other Dem candidate. That leaves room to scapegoat him.
He doesn’t have nearly as much attack surface on culture/personality, but they’d still hit him on policy. Too radical for major corporate outlets. I’d also expect him to meet massive gridlock, at which point he gets nebulously blamed for not compromising.
It’s possible they’d close ranks anyways, if the ideological bent is stronger than I thought. In that case I’d bet on Fox and Friends to take up the market share. There is definitely a contingent of socialist-skeptics, ones who already pay taxes and own property, who were really receptive to Sanders criticism.
I've heard that he is extremely unpopular amongst people with whom he has direct contact; so unpleasant that he was kicked out of a kibbutz for being generally annoying and not pulling his weight in community work. He and his wife also have some financial issues that are potentially more than just unbecoming of a self-declared socialist. We've never seen a gloves-off campaign against Sanders, because Clinton had the 2016 primary fixed.
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