Like I can imagine him enthusiastically siding with protesters could have either turned all centrist off, or perhaps galvanized the population into rabid support. There'd be actual optimism in the air. There'd be a groundswell and a gameplan.
Or chuds might have felt extra threatened and started accelerationist, captial murder sprees.
Covid? RBG? Post office? West coast fires?
I'm running in a local election as a Democrat (yes, fuck me) and some Democrats are running a write-in candidate against me. I'm not saying I'm Bernie, but I have little doubt that a third-party neoliberal would have run a campaign against him that would have plastered every single screen with advertising 24/7.