During an interview with The Intercept , former presidential candidate Ralph Nader spoke about the current political landscape ahead of the 2020 election as well as the goals of the Democratic Party.
According to Nader, there are specific candidates he believes the Democratic Party will not allow to win the primary.
“They have to block as I said, Bernie Sanders . They have to block Elizabeth Warren . They have to block universal basic income proposals like Andrew Yang ,” he said.
Nader said that Joe Biden is the top choice, noting he comes out of the “corporate state.” In the case of Biden’s failure, Nader said Michael Bloomberg is the next best option for the Democratic Party.
The 85-year-old politician said he believes the 2020 race is now a battle between two types of socialism: one employed by Donald Trump , and the other by Sanders. He claims the Democratic corporate establishment that is deeply ingrained in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) wants to stop Sanders and Warren so that it can continue raking in corporate money.
Nader pointed to former President Barack Obama’s “record setting” Wall Street fundraising, which topped even his Republican opponents.
“Look, it’s a choice between Trump’s corporate socialism which you cannot dis-elect and throw the rascals out because it’s Wall Street controlling Washington, or democratic socialism where if you don’t like it, if you don’t like law and order to corporate domination of your lives, and the corporate state, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt called fascism in a message to Congress in 1938, you can always throw the rascals out. That’s the difference.”
According to Nader, corporate socialism was on display during the 2008 financial crisis when taxpayer money was used to bail out the Wall Street “crooks.” He also noted Trump’s tax breaks for the rich, which he claims will create deficits that fall onto the shoulders of future generations. Nader suggested that the money used for Trump’s tax cut should have instead been funneled into rebuilding infrastructure, schools, and water and sewage systems.
Just before jumping into the race, @MikeBloomberg gave $325,000 to the DNC, on top of the gobs he spent on ads this month. Totally normal system. pic.twitter.com/u4JDelWb7H
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) January 31, 2020
Sanders and his allies have already taken aim at the DNC for alleged plans to stop his nomination. According to Sanders’ camp, DNC chairman Tom Perez’s initial appointments to the rules committee of the Democratic Party’s nomination convention are enemies of the Vermont senator’s campaign.
The DNC also faced scrutiny when Ryan Grim , Washington, D.C. bureau chief of The Intercept , revealed that Bloomberg donated $325,000 to the DNC before he entered the primary. The revelation came as the DNC decided to change the rules for Democratic debate qualification, which worked to the benefit of no candidate except for Bloomberg.