Y’all are making me nervous.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has suspended her campaign, and now the Democratic Party now has two real presidential candidates: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. (Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, only came out of Super Tuesday with two delegates from the American Samoan caucuses.)

Biden is an establishment moderate, and Sanders is a revolutionizing progressive. The choice of these two is one that fuels the online ever-burning dumpster fire of debate.

However, what’s more concerning to me is not so much the argument of whether or not Biden or Sanders should be the nominee. Some are even declaring that they won’t vote in November if the nomination doesn’t go their way.

For now one can hope it’s a bluff, but it stresses the question of what exactly are voters’ priorities in 2020? What does loyalty to a candidate — and not a party — matter when the country faces a reelection of President Trump?

Between the choice of the two remaining candidates, I obviously want Sanders to be the nominee. I could argue why, but a more urgent argument in looking ahead to the coming Democratic National Convention this summer is that voters must cast their ballot for whoever accepts the nomination.

Yes, even if that means Biden. Not voting has no noise; it’s just silence.

In 2016, the attitudes toward the party and the nomination of Hillary Clinton fueled similar decisions. I myself was furiously suspicious toward all establishment Democrats, because of how the primaries seemed to systematically undermine Sanders. Bizzare voting-machine errors, circumstances of voter suppression, and bias in news coverage gave reason to be skeptical.

That same skepticism from four years ago is returning.

The rhetoric of describing Biden as the “next Hillary” may have some accuracy, but this constant reference to 2016 is unhelpful. Whether voters are registered as Democrats or independents, they must prioritize fighting against a reelection of Trump. 

If beating Trump isn’t the priority, then what is?

Every candidate running for president — Trump included — calls on Americans to vote. When Hillary won the nomination in 2016, Sanders implored his supporters to support the Democratic Party in defeating the possibility of a Trump administration. Many did not vote anyway.

Now this administration has the possibility of having a second term. The logic of preferring a two-term Trump presidency over supporting a least-favorite Democrat is selfish.

Not participating in the general election, especially if you’re a registered Democrat, invalidates entirely why you supported Warren or Sanders or whoever at the beginning of this race. The goal is to change the country, and the first step in that change is to beat Trump.

This is how our democracy functions.

A Sanders presidency has an enormous promise of undoing the magnitude of damage this administration has done, and so does a Biden presidency. While these two possible administrations would be very different from each other, both would be unquestionably better than a reelection of Trump.

As a journalist, it’s my responsibility — as well as my right — to defend what I understand is true, and what I believe is right. 

The truth is that no vote means no voice, and that choice will have consequences.