There is something to be said for setting a precedent. I believe Bernie would have recognized that he would struggle with the major powers and so strategized to make friends and move around them, towards a larger end goal. Would there have been sweeping changes? Probably not the first four years. A second term with the groundwork? I think we may have seen things change.
You have to understand that a lot of us trust that Bernie wants what’s best. If it took time and he asked us to trust him, we would. Yeah, there are arguments against this and what I spoke of further above, yet it is my belief that there would have been positive change.