Bernie Sanders appeared on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes” to explain why voters who support the Palestinian people and oppose the war in Gaza should continue to support Kamala Harris. As the 2024 campaign reaches its climax, the Biden-Harris administration’s stance on the conflict remains a point of contention on the campaign trail.
“The bottom line is that there are many millions of Americans, myself included, who strongly disagree with Biden and Harris’ position on Gaza and their support for Netanyahu,” Sanders said. I think viewers realize that what’s happening right now in Gaza is horrific in terms of the loss of life and the number of wounded. And now, because Israel is blocking humanitarian aid, we are facing mass child malnutrition and starvation.
The Vermont senator continued: “They will make things worse by not allowing UNRWA to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza.”
But then he pivoted and explained why, despite his concerns about the administration’s policy, he still supports Harris.
“What I think is important for people to know, especially young people, is that as wrong as Biden and Harris are on this issue, Trump is worse,” Sanders said.
In his discussion, Sanders pointed to billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s widow, Miriam Adelson, who has donated nearly $100 million to support Trump.
“She’s very pro-Netanyahu,” Sanders said.
Their conversation comes on the heels of a video Sanders posted earlier this week in which he made a similar argument to his followers:
“The point of my video, which blew me away (it has over 15 million views so far) is that, yes, we don’t agree with Harris on this issue, but we have a much better chance… to change policy. American under a Harris administration. Sanders said.
“I pledge that I will do everything in my power to get the administration to change its policies and not continue to provide financial, military or offensive assistance to Netanyahu,” the senator promised.
Sanders and Hayes also took time in their interview to criticize Trump’s most outspoken pro-Trump billionaire, Elon Musk.
“Sometimes it feels like Elon Musk was conjured out of Bernie Sanders’ mind to embody the billionaire class,” Hayes joked, referring to the hundreds of millions of dollars the Tesla CEO has spent in politics supporting conservative candidates, especially Trump, while also being “fiercely anti-union.”
The senator agreed, telling Hayes he was “absolutely right.” He pointed to three billionaires who have spent hundreds of millions to make Trump the next president, although he acknowledged that “Democrats have their billionaires, but what we have to face is the fact that we can’t allow that kind of billionaire money to determine who.” “Is he. The next president of the United States is.”
Hayes mentioned the 1968 Democratic campaign, the role of the Vietnam War in that year’s race, and the eventual election of Richard Nixon.
Hayes said: “In the 1968 campaign, people were very understandably and rightfully angry at Johnson and the Democratic Party because of Vietnam,” Hayes said. “People forget that, but Nixon ran as a peace candidate in 1968 and then immediately started secretly bombing Cambodia and causing loss of life.”
Sanders agreed, adding: “Let’s understand that Netanyahu is an extreme right-wing, racist prime minister in Israel, and he certainly wants his good friend Donald Trump to be president of the United States – two right-wing extremists working together.”
The answer, he said, is for “millions of us to get active on this issue to change U.S. policy in Gaza.”
You can watch Chris Hayes’ full interview with Senator Bernie Sanders in the video at the top of this story.
