Bernie Sanders Praises Donald Trump For Taking On The Establishment, ‘An Extraordinary Accomplishment’
Bernie Sanders thinks President-elect Donald Trump is a “pathological liar” and a bigot, but he also praised him for extraordinarily upending the entire political and media establishment on his way to winning the White House on November 8, 2016.
The Vermont senator made these comments at nationally televised town hall from George Washington University on Monday. See clips below.
Sanders, a self-described socialist, was the runner-up to Hillary Clinton for the Democrat presidential nomination. Following a contentious primary, Sanders endorsed Clinton and campaigned for her in a number of states.
When asked at the CNN-sponsored D.C. event about Trump’s strongest attribute in his upset win (at least as the poll-driven mainstream media perceived it), Sanders replied as follows, according to the New York Post and various other media outlets.
“Look, any objective assessment in the last year or a year and a half, or however long it was, will tell you that Donald Trump did something extraordinary. Something that nobody, but nobody, thought that he could do. Trump took on the Republican establishment, took on the Democratic establishment, took on the media establishment, and he ended up winning the election to become president of the United States. That is an extraordinary accomplishment. And it talks about perseverance; it talks about very strong political instincts. It talks about a way to connect with people. So, I give, you know, Donald Trump his due. And I think any fair-minded person has got to.”
Bernie Sanders: "Donald Trump did something extraordinary" #SandersTownHall https://t.co/kZgYxw6whm
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) January 10, 2017
He also committed to giving Trump’s cabinet nominees a fair hearing and cautioned Democrats against obstructing the new administration if they can reach common ground on some issues.
In an interview with NPR last week, Sanders suggested that the Democrats stopped listening to its traditional middle/working class constituency in favor of selling out to big-monied interests including Wall Street, and that led to its defeat at the hands of Donald Trump, a former Democrat and independent who ran for president as a Republican with a populist, nationalistic agenda.
Sanders has acknowledged that there is room for improvement in Obamacare, but opposes a repeal which the GOP appears to be fast-tracking.
He has also vowed to hold the president-elect accountable for his promise to leave Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid intact.
The U.S. senator also indicated a willingness to work with Trump on reining in Big Pharma and renegotiating international trade deals to make them more fair to American workers. “I think where Trump has ideas that make sense that we can work with him on, I think we should,” Sanders declared at the town hall.
Bernie Sanders touched on Trump, Obamacare and more. The most notable moments from the #SandersTownHall: https://t.co/hTIO0iJUvI @ChrisCuomo pic.twitter.com/I74DKycDcu
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) January 10, 2017
Bernie Sanders particularly welcomed Trump’s comments at his press conference today where the former New York real estate mogul talked about creating new bidding procedures for pharmaceutical drug sales to the government. “He’s right. And I’ve been saying that for years. Pharma does get away with murder. Literally murder. People die because they can’t get the prescription drugs they need,” Sander told the Huffington Post.
In a statement released the day after the presidential election, Sanders explained that “Donald Trump tapped into the anger of a declining middle class that is sick and tired of establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media…To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him…,” The Daily Caller detailed.
Sanders, who is an independent but caucuses with the Democrats, has not indicated whether he will seek the presidency in 2020 (when he will be pushing 80 years old), but the liberal New Republic yesterday described Bernie Sanders as a “big letdown” because he “is letting his efforts to court Trump voters keep him from being the voice of radical resistance that progressives desperately need.”
[Featured Image by mpi04/MediaPunch/IPX via AP Images]
