Bernie Sanders on Jimmy Kimmel last night essentially says that he sees this debate with Donald Trump as a way to seize the nomination.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Sanders suggested the debate, which he wants to be held in California ahead of the state’s June 7 Democratic primary, and Kimmel asked Trump whether he’d be willing to go for it during an appearance Wednesday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” 

Trump said he would do it, and Sanders appeared Thursday night on Kimmel’s talk show, where he offered some thanks to the host. 

“You made it possible for us to have a very interesting debate about two guys who look at the world very, very differently,” Sanders told Kimmel. 

The Vermont senator said the debate against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee would essentially replace a debate he’d expected to have against Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner. 

“We had reached an agreement for a number of debates, including one in California, (but) unfortunately — and, I think, not appropriately, Secretary Clinton decided not to go forward,” Sanders said, adding that her decision frustrated him. “First of all, it’s kind of insulting to the people in the largest state in the United States of America not to come forward and talk about the issues, serious issues, that impact the state and impact the country, so (I’m) disappointed that she chose not to come forward.” 

Kimmel showed him a clip of Clinton telling CNN’s Jake Tapper that she “will be the nominee for my party — that is already done, in effect,” and asked Sanders if her comments made him angry. 

“Just a tinge (of) arrogance there, I think,” Sanders said. “Unfortunately, the people of Indiana a couple of weeks ago, the people of West Virginia, the people of Oregon who gave us a pretty good victory, don’t quite agree with Secretary Clinton’s assessment, and we split Kentucky, and I kind of think that on June 7 people of California will have a message for Secretary Clinton: Don’t count your chickens.”

Holy shitballs! Well there is no misinterpreting what Sanders is saying here.

He essentially thinks that if this debate with Trump garners enough attention, and gives him enough momentum, that he can wrest this nomination out of Hillary's hands at the convention.

Something like this debate between a party nominee and the opposing party's number two contender has NEVER been done before, and it flies in the face of political decorum and sportsmanship. (Here is what Rachel Maddow had to say about this last night on her show.)

Not that it really matters because hours after I wrote this post Trump issued this statement:  

Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher. Likewise, the networks want to make a killing on these events and are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes, in this case, women’s health issues. Therefore, as much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders - and it would be an easy payday - I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton, or whoever it may be.

A statement by the way that thanks to Bernie Sanders' careless disregard for the guidelines of the primary process will now receive  quite a bit of media attention.

So Sanders once again provides ammunition for Donald Trump to go after not only Hillary Clinton, but also Debbie Wassserman Schultz and the Democratic primary process itself.

So this is how the primary season will end for the Democrats?

Not with a calm counting of delegates and a mature acceptance of loss by those without the numbers, but rather an angry clash between those who understand the system and those who want to burn it down.

I'm sorry that's "Bern it down,"

I can only imagine how much the Republicans are enjoying all of this!