During a recent appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight , progressive commentator and The Hill’s Rising co-host Krystal Ball spoke about the rise of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and her belief that the party’s establishment would prefer Donald Trump to win over the Vermont senator.
According to Ball, the Democratic establishment knows that Sanders will not invite them into his circle of influence, should he win in November, Fox News reported.
“These are all people whose power comes from their access to the establishment world — consultants whose grift is based on a certain deal flow from the DNC, et cetera — and they know what you said about they prefer Trump to Bernie — that’s exactly right because they know under a Sanders administration, all of that access and all of that deal flow, all of that is gone and it truly is over for them.”
Ball claims that top Democratic officials would rather have a Trump win and get another chance as nominating a candidate they prefer in the 2024 election. Regardless, she noted that Sanders — unfortunately for the Washington elite — is well-liked, and said that he is the “most popular senator in the country.”
The 38-year-old political commentator also noted the denial of many in the Democratic establishment who refuse to acknowledge that Sanders is now the frontrunner and ignore the enthusiastic movement of people driving his candidacy.
As Fox News reported today, MSNBC is a network that has faced particular criticism for its blackout of the Sanders campaign. The article highlighted that a voter told anchor Ari Melber on Tuesday that she voted for the Vermont lawmaker in protest of the unfair coverage he receives from the network.
A Wednesday New Republic article offered a similar perspective, claiming that MSNBC has become a “serious obstacle” for the senator due to its decision to promote “Republican anti-Sanders talking points” — something the publication claims is happening with “increasing frequency.”
The alleged opposition to Sanders’ presidency pushed David Sirota, the Sanders campaign’s senior advisor and speechwriter, to compile a Twitter thread of all the omissions and visual misrepresentations of the candidate. The thread mirrors one made by universal basic income (UBI) advocate Scott Santens, who supported former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang — someone who was seen as having experienced similar exclusion and misrepresentation by MSNBC and other media networks.
Ball has also covered such instances of exclusion on her show. In one episode, she spoke to Nina Turner, a national co-chair of Sanders’ 2020 campaign, about the perceived media blackout.
“It is wrong and the system is rigged,” Turner said.