Bernie Sanders Endorses Joe Biden While Focusing on 'Dangerous' Trump Instead of Biden Strengths
Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on Monday, encouraging his progressive supporters to rally behind the presumptive Democratic nominee in an urgent bid to defeat President Donald Trump.
“I am asking all Americans, I’m asking every Democrat, I’m asking every independent, I’m asking a lot of Republicans, to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” the Vermont senator said in a virtual event with Biden.
Sanders also called Trump “a president who apparently has never read the Constitution of the United States, who believes he is above the law, a president who lies all of the time, a president who has at least shown me that he is a racist and a sexist and a homophobe and a xenophobe and a religious bigot.”
The backing came less than a week after the democratic socialist Sanders ended his presidential campaign, which was centered around far-left policies such as universal health care.
The endorsement came after the former vice president last week partially embraced two of the Vermont senator’s progressive policies: lowering the age for Medicare eligibility and forgiving student debt.
It’s a crucial development for Biden, who must bridge the Democratic Party’s entrenched ideological divides to put together a coalition that can beat Trump. Democratic disunity helped contribute to Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016.
Perhaps eager to avoid a repeat of that bruising election year, Sanders offered his endorsement much earlier in the 2020 campaign. He backed Clinton four years ago, but only after the end of a drawn-out nomination fight and a bitter dispute over the Democratic platform that extended to the summer convention.
Biden and Sanders differed throughout the primary, particularly over whether a government-run system should replace private health insurance. Biden has resisted Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan and has pushed instead a public option that would operate alongside private coverage.
Appearing in a split screen with Biden, Sanders said there’s “no great secret out there that you and I have our differences.”
But Sanders said the greater priority for Democrats of all political persuasions should be defeating Trump.
“We’ve got to make Trump a one-term president,” he said. “I will do all that I can to make that happen.”
The coronavirus prevented Biden, 77, and Sanders, 78, from appearing together in person on Monday. But they made clear they would continue working together, announcing the formation of six “task forces” made up of representatives from both campaigns to work on policy agreements addressing issues including the economy, education, criminal justice and immigration.
Sanders is sure to remain a force throughout the campaign. When he ended his candidacy last week, he said he would keep his name on the ballot in states that have not yet voted in order to collect more delegates that could be used to influence the party’s platform.
He didn’t say Monday whether he would continue to fight for those delegates.
Still, Sanders and Biden emphasized their mutual respect for each other.
Sanders referred to the former vice president as “Joe.” Biden answered him repeatedly as “pal.” The two men asked the other to give regards to their wives, Jill Biden and Jane Sanders.
Biden told Sanders: “I really need you, not just to win the campaign but to govern.”
Whether that will translate to how Sanders’ progressive base sees Biden is not yet clear.
Biden will need the senator’s help not just in winning over skeptical progressives but also in appealing to young voters, a key Democratic voting bloc that has long supported Sanders over his former primary rivals by huge margins.
The two septuagenarians on Monday both emphasized the need to address the challenges confronting young people during the pandemic, with Sanders describing “a generation of young people who are experiencing crisis after crisis.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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