Shutterstock
In a new interview released on Tuesday, 2016 presidential candidate and former first lady Hillary Clinton blasts Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders is a frontrunner in the 2020 Democratic primary field, and is considered by many to be a favorite, running as a progressive alternative to centrist candidates like Biden and Bloomberg.
In the interview, Clinton insists that “nobody likes” Senator Sanders, claiming he is a “career politician.” These accusations are ironic, coming from a famously disliked Democrat who lost a national election to one of the most disliked presidential candidates of all time. In the interview, Clinton pulls no punches.
Clinton chooses to evade a question about whether she would support Sanders if he got the nomination, adding that she’s worried about “the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters. It’s his online Bernie Bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women. And I really hope people are paying attention to that because it should be worrisome that he has permitted this culture — not only permitted, [he] seems to really be very much supporting it.”
The unsubstantiated claims of “Bernie Bros” harassing female candidates online has long been a strawman that Sanders’ opponents trot out when they seem unwilling to debate his policy proposals on their merits.
Many have expressed the opinion that this attack should be seen as a win for Sanders. For his entire political career, Sanders has opposed the moneyed, wealthy elite influence in both parties (Sanders is, after all, an Independent who is running as a Democrat). The Clintons represent everything that Sanders has been urging both parties to exorcise from politics: dynastic, well-entrenched, super-wealthy corporate interests.
With the first primary contests only two weeks away, now is an ironic time for Clinton to come out swinging against the candidate many feel has the best opportunity to run against Trump. Clinton famously failed to defeat that same opponent, and many in the Democratic voting base still blame her for the embarrassing 2016 loss. Her harsh words are likely just more fuel for that fire.
