Trump Campaign Responds to Sanders' Presidential Bid with Quick Jab at Socialism
The Trump campaign responded to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ entry into the presidential race on Tuesday, arguing he has already won the Democratic primary because all the candidates have adopted his socialist policies.
In a video announcing his candidacy, the Vermont senator said, “Our campaign is about transforming our country, and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial, and environmental justice.”
“Our campaign is about creating a government and economy that works for the many, not just the few,” Sanders added. “We are the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. We should not have a grotesque level of wealth inequality…”
Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign’s newly named national press secretary, responded to Sanders’ announcement contending the self-described socialist is already the winner of the Democratic nomination.
“Bernie Sanders has already won the debate in the Democratic primary, because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism,” McEnany said in statement.
“But the American people will reject an agenda of sky-high tax rates, government-run health care and coddling dictators like those in Venezuela,” she continued. “Only President Trump will keep America free, prosperous and safe.”
Last month, McEnany tweeted about a “must read” 2011 Op-Ed Sanders shared, which he still has on his Senate website, observing, “This didn’t age well.”
The piece penned by The Valley News editorial board reads, in part: “These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in…Venezuela…where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who’s the banana republic now?”
Oh my…
This didn’t age well…
Bernie Sanders’ “Must Read” section: “These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in… Venezuela.” pic.twitter.com/pNAvaWsfcN
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) January 24, 2019
Most of the Democratic Party’s announced candidates support the Green New Deal, which includes many of Sanders’ proposals.
Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution in the Senate.
The Green New Deal envisions massive government intervention into the economy in order to transition the United States to 100 percent renewable energy, including the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
To achieve the goal, the plan mandates the replacement of airplanes with high-speed trains, the rebuilding or retrofitting of all buildings in the country to new green standards and the elimination of all combustion-engine vehicles.
Additionally, the Green New Deal includes new government entitlement programs including free universal health care and college education, government guaranteed employment, and paid family and medical leave, as well as economic security for all.
The Green New Deal has been estimated to cost upwards of $7 trillion per year. By way of comparison, the current federal budget for fiscal year 2019 is approximately $4.4 trillion.
During his State of the Union address earlier this month, Trump declared, “America will never be a socialist country.”
The president laid out the perils of socialism Monday night in a speech to Venezuelan Americans in Miami.
“Socialism promises prosperity, but it delivers poverty,” Trump said, pointing to the example of Venezuela, which used to be one of the wealthiest countries in South America, but is now experiencing express economic distress.
“Socialism is a sad and discredited ideology rooted in the total ignorance of history and human nature, which is why socialism, eventually, must always give rise to tyranny, which it does.”
“Socialism is a sad and discredited ideology rooted in the total ignorance of history and human nature,” Pres. Trump says in Miami.
“Which is why socialism must always give rise to tyranny…Socialism is about one thing only: power for the ruling class.” https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/aeWUwxFglQ
— ABC News (@ABC) February 18, 2019
“We know that socialism is not about justice, it’s not about equality, it’s not about lifting up the poor. Socialism is about one thing only: power for the ruling class,” the president continued, “And the more power they get, the more they crave. They want to run healthcare, run transportation and finance, run energy, education — run everything.”
“They want the power to decide who wins and who loses, who’s up and who’s down, what’s true and what’s false, and even who lives and who dies. In short, all of us here today know that there is nothing less democratic than socialism.”
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