Sen. Bernie Sanders is the best candidate for the Democratic Party.

Simply put, Sanders needs to be the nominee. Without Sanders at the forefront of the national platform, the Democratic Party may be at serious risk for a Donald Trump presidency.

For more than 30 years, Sen. Sanders has been consistent on every issue from the Iraq war and the rise of the Islamic State [IS] to the 2008 recession. For decades, it seemed he has preached his anti-war, pro-middle class rhetoric to empty committee rooms and being ignored until today where his preaching is finally resonating with the public.

Along with her infamous email probe, Sec. Clinton has a past with the presumptive and highly controversial Republican nominee Trump. According to the Clinton Foundation, Trump has contributed over $100,000 in campaign contributions to her organization as well as to her Senatorial campaign when she represented New York in the past. Now at odds, it’s interesting to view Trump’s contribution to Clinton in hindsight.

From minimum wage, trade deals, campaign finance and even same- sex marriage, Sec. Clinton has consistently flip-flopped.

Campaign finance has been an issue Sec. Clinton is continuously silent on as she was pressed on her campaign contributions by then Senator Obama in 2008 and now Sen. Sanders in 2016. In one of the first presidential debates when Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was in the running, Sec. Clinton listed numerous companies who had participated in questionable banking methods. Sec. Clinton has stated she wants to break up the big banks, yet those are her biggest campaign contributors. Sec. Clinton cites Lehman Brothers and investments banks on shadow banking and tax evasion in her explanation of how these companies must be more heavily regulated. When looking at her campaign contributions, Lehman brothers gave over $363,000 dollars to Clinton and investment banks nearly three million since her political start in 1989, according to the Huffington Post. How can one promise to heavily regulate the same companies in which they have received contributions?

In the social light, Sec. Clinton did not come out in support of gay marriage until 2013 in a Human Rights Campaign Ad, according to PolitiFact. In an interview with Chris Matthews in 2002, on the Senate floor in 2004, and even in 2010 on an open forum she stated her disapproval of gay marriage. Clinton’s continuous inconsistencies and changing policy lose independent voters.

Recently, Rasmussen reported a 41 percent to 39 percent poll in favor against Trump in the general election. In another poll from Quinnipiac this year, Sec. Clinton is predicted to beat Trump by seven points while Sanders in that poll and many others beats Trump by double digits.

A Donald Trump presidency cannot be risked.

With the most experience and with unquestionable consistency, Sanders would be the only one able to surely secure the independent vote and give Democrats the best statistical chance of retaining the White House.