Senator Bernie Sanders did not mince his words as he appropriately defined Senator Kyrsten Sinema as one who sabotaged Joe Biden’s agenda.
Bernie Sanders slams Kyrsten Sinema
Bernie Sanders did not mince his words about Kyrsten Sinema. It is clear that Dana Bass wanted to concentrate on Sinema’s departure from the Democratic Party as opposed to a great win by Raphael Warnock.
Bass first played a snippet from a Jake Tapper interview where he pointed out to Sinema that over 90% of her votes aligned with the Democratic Party. She stuck with her false equivalence, implying that there were extremists on the Left and the Right. She implied that both sides wanted all in the parties to toe the party line. Of course, that is much more true in the Republican Party than in the Democratic Party.
The reality is that Sinema sold her soul to the corporatocracy. On votes where it would cost corporations and the wealthy a bit more in taxes, she voted against the working class (e.g., Build Back Better, etc.). Make no mistake, Kyrsten Sinema is leaving the Democratic Party because she could not win in a primary. She will likely try to run as an independent and split the vote, which is her only hope to remain in the Senate.
“Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Senator, first, you are an independent,” Dana Bass said. “She is now the third official independent of the U.S. Senate, joining you and Angus King of Maine. What do you think of her decision and also what you just heard in her interview with Jake?”
Sanders clearly wanted to expand the question.
“I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on senator Sinema,” Bernie said. “She has her reasons. I happen to suspect that it’s probably a lot to do with politics back in Arizona. I think the Democrats, they’re are not all that enthusiastic about somebody who helped sabotage some of the most important legislation that protects the interests of working families and voting rights and so forth. So I think it really has to do with her political aspirations for the future in Arizona,”
Bernie then pivoted to the positive. In other words, the Democrats or better off in the Senate this cycle than last.
“But for us, I think nothing much has changed in terms of the functioning of the U.S. Senate,” Bernie continued. “The good news is that we now have 51 votes. We’ll have a majority on committees. That means that we can go forward and start protecting the interests of working families and deal with the reality that we are increasingly living in an oligarchy where the billionaire class and large corporations control almost every aspect of our country. So I would hope very much that with this new majority, Democrats will sit down and start fighting for the needs of ordinary Americans.”
When asked if he would support a Progressive to oppose Sinema, Bernie said he would. Dana then asked Sanders if Sinema had what it takes to take on powerful interests. Bernie answered without hesitation.
“No, she doesn’t,” Bernie said. “She is a corporate Democrat who has, in fact, along with Senator Manchin, sabotaged enormously important legislation.”
He is right. And the only way to solve this is to vote for Progressives in the primaries.