Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is getting blunt about why Kamala Harris misplaced the 2024 presidential election.
Whereas talking to BBC Radio 4 through the London leg of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, the two-time presidential candidate mentioned it was improper to pin Harris’ defeat on then-President Joe Biden’s late retreat from the race.
“It was the fault of Kamala Harris and her consultants,” he mentioned plainly, earlier than laying out how Democrats didn’t “run a campaign designed to speak to the American working class.”
Sanders advised the station that whereas President Donald Trump could also be “reasonably popular,” Democrats might have overwhelmed him in the event that they addressed the struggles on a regular basis Individuals face through the marketing campaign.
“I ran all over the country trying to elect Kamala Harris and begged them: Talk to the needs of the working class. Talk about raising the minimum wage to a living wage,” he continued. “Talk about real health care reform. Talk about building the kinds of massive amounts of housing that we need, and putting checks on landlords’ greed on housing.”
Samuel Corum through Getty Pictures
However as an alternative of listening to Sanders, the Harris marketing campaign determined to depend on “billionaire friends” and anti-Trump Republicans like former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.).
“Kamala spent more time with Liz Cheney almost than with anybody else. What is that message out to working-class people?” he requested.
Sanders added that utilizing billionaire “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban as a surrogate was additionally a serious misstep for Democrats.
“To my mind that was a campaign that absolutely should have been winnable,” however consultants and the 1% led them astray, he mentioned.
“The bottom line here is the Democrats have to answer a very simple question: Which side are you on?”
Speaking in regards to the occasion’s present technique in an interview with The Washington Publish revealed final week, the senator had an identical message.
“Do Democrats do enough?” he requested himself. “No.”
KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI through Getty Pictures
“The difference that I have with the Democratic leadership is not in the need to vigorously oppose Trump,” he defined. “It’s to bring forth an agenda that resonates with working-class families. And I think there are a number of Trump people who will support that agenda.”
Even earlier than ballots have been solid, observers have been cautious about Democrats’ determination to financial institution on big-name supporters like Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez and extra, questioning whether or not it might repay.
And within the fallout from the 2024 election, politics insiders have been much more crucial.
“Celebrity endorsements say a lot: they say you’re a liberal, an elitist, and a cultural progressive. An Oprah or Clooney endorsement is the kiss of death in large swaths of the country now,” Republican strategist William F.B. O’Reilly advised The New York Instances in a postmortem election evaluation.
