Hillary Clintonis not mincing words aboutBernie Sanders— in both an upcoming documentary, where she calls him a “career politician” whom “nobody likes,”and in an interview published Tuesdaywhere she took aim at his supporters.
Sanders, Clinton’s erstwhile rival and a longtime Vermont senator who votes with but is not a Democrat, is one of the leading candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination after losing to Clinton in the 2016 primary.
“He was in Congress for years. He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done,” Clinton, 72, says in the documentary, according toTHR. “He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”
Sanders, 78, has a contentious and complicated history with Clinton. He ran a surprisingly strong — but ultimately unsuccessful — campaign against her for the Democratic presidential nomination. She went on to narrowly lose the general election to PresidentDonald Trump.
When Bennett asked Sanders why he thinks Clinton is still talking about 2016, Sanderssaid, “That’s a good question. You should ask her.”
Despite the fact that Sanders has a strong chance at winning the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton toldTHRthat she wasn’t prepared to say whether she’ll endorse and campaign for him.
“I’m not going to go there yet,” Clinton said. “We’re still in a very vigorous primary season.”
Later Tuesday,Clinton tweetedthat she would “do whatever I can to support our nominee” and that her ultimate goal was defeating Trump.
“I thought everyone wanted my authentic, unvarnished views!” she wrote. “But to be serious, the number one priority for our country and world is retiring Trump, and, as I always have, I will do whatever I can to support our nominee.”
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Even though Sanders endorsed Clinton as the nominee and campaigned for her in 2016, the two have not had a warm relationship.
In one primary debate, SanderssaidClinton wasn’t “qualified” to be president — something she continued to take issue with in herTHRinterview this week.
The Clinton camp was also critical of the fact that Sanders didn’t immediately back her for president after she beat him out for the nomination and, indeed, insisted on continuing to run a Democratic primary campaign even when it became clear that he had lost.
Sanders’ supporters have their own grievances. Hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee showed some party officials had a bias toward Clinton. Clinton, in turn, took umbrage with the behavior of some of Sanders’ backers.
“Some of his supporters, the so-called ‘Bernie Bros,’ took to harassing my supporters online. It got ugly and more than a little sexist,” ClintonwroteinWhat Happened, her memoir about the 2016 election. “Nonetheless, his attacks caused lasting damage, making it harder to unify progressives in the general election and paving the way for Trump’s ‘Crooked Hillary’ campaign.”
Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty
In the 2020 primary, Sanders has been in another recent conflict, this time with fellow progressiveElizabeth Warren. Earlier this month, Sen. Warren said that Sanders told her in 2018that a woman couldn’t become presidentin 2020 — which Sanders has vehemently denied.
Clinton doesn’t seem to be buying it, tellingTHR:
source: people.com
