Ever since Donald Trump rode the populist wave that propelled him from reality TV star to the White House, Democrats have been scrambling to find a new face for the party. Image and marketing are crucial in today’s national political arena and finding young Democratic talent will not be easy since the Clinton-Obama era left the party with a thin and aging bench. Hillary Clinton has not helped the cause much with her postelection blame game tour that has many Democrats trying to distance themselves from the scarred Clinton political machine.

The leading faces of the Democratic Party — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, socialist Bernie Sanders, and former Vice President Joe Biden — will each be around the 80 years old when the next presidential election is held in 2020.

Sanders, the avowed democratic socialist who won 23 primaries and caucuses before being squeezed out by Clinton delegates in 2016, seems to have the most loyal and enthusiastic Democratic supporters.

Sanders’ focus on income and wealth inequality, climate change, reducing the burden of student debt and making public colleges and universities tuition-free by taxing financial transactions, has made him a favorite of many campus liberals. He also favors raising the minimum wage, universal health care, finance reform, abolishing the death penalty and legalizing marijuana at the federal level.

While the liberal left sees Sanders as a hero of the downtrodden, he’s by no means one of the less fortunate or even in the middle-class category. Sanders lives well, thanks to book royalties, including a $795,000 advance for his best-seller, “Our Revolution.”

According to Newsweek, Sanders and his wife, Jane, bought a lakefront home in Vermont on Lake Champlain in 2016, adding to their houses in D.C. and Burlington, Vermont.

While Sanders could be considered well-off, Pelosi’s net worth of an estimated $125 million ranks her among the wealthiest members of Congress. Her net worth in 2009 was $58 million, and by 2014 it was estimated over $101 million.

So hearing an elitist Democrat like Pelosi preaching about poverty or income and wealth inequality doesn’t compute since it certainly isn’t coming from her life among the downtrodden.

Last January, Pelosi called the GOP tax cuts Armageddon and the worst law ever, referring to the $1,000 bonuses paid to some employees as “crumbs.” Considering the source, that “crumbs” line did not sit well with average Americans.

“To Pelosi, a thousand bucks may be ‘crumbs’ the little people don’t deserve to eat off her floors,” said one critic.

In recent years, Pelosi has had trouble with demographics and census numbers. “Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs,” she once stated. (The nation has 327 million people).

After President Trump reviewed border wall prototypes in San Diego last week, Pelosi called the barriers “obnoxious,” too high and said that they had no place in a “civilized society.”

Pelosi and Biden have made some of the biggest liberal gaffes on record.

Here are some of Biden’s gems:

• “The number one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S.”

• “The man who will be the next president of the United States, Barack America!”

• “Stand up … Chuck, stand up, Chuck, let ’em see you!” (Joe Biden speaking to Sen. Chuck Graham who is wheelchair bound)

• “Obama and Biden want to raise taxes by a trillion dollars. Guess what? Yes we do.”

Finally, he said this about multicultural communities: “In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”

Not surprisingly, the left-leaning print media and most cable outlets often choose to ignore stupid or insensitive comments made by Democratic leaders. But when a Republican leader or a conservative slips up with a controversial remark or says something that doesn’t fit the liberal agenda, it becomes a top headline or recycled sound byte.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com