BuzzFeed reports:

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is beginning to aggressively attack a rising threat to his power: Bernie Sanders.

The Trump campaign put out two statements centered on Sanders this week, and the Vermont senator was at the top of the list of people the president attacked at his first rally of the year in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday night.

“Bernie Sanders — crazy Bernie! — has condemned the US military strike on Soleimani, the world’s top terrorist,” Trump said in his first mention of a Democratic candidate at the rally. Sanders has led the Democratic field in unequivocally condemning the strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week, solidifying his position as the anti-war candidate.

“Bernie is going up. He’s surging. Crazy Bernie is surging,” Trump said in Toledo.

Until now, the Trump campaign has focused much of its messaging on former vice president Joe Biden, and Trump’s concern over the threat he could pose is at the center of the impeachment inquiry against the president. Email blasts sent by Trump’s rapid response director, Andrew Clark, typically target Biden, as well as the Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry, Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. Since early last summer, the Trump campaign’s emails have mentioned Sanders only a handful of times — almost always as “Crazy Bernie” and grouped with other candidates running. [Continue reading…]