With the 2024 presidential race beginning to unfold, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he believes that President Joe Biden will again earn the Democratic nomination — and the president likely win reelection if he runs on a strong progressive campaign.
“I think at this moment … we have got to bring the progressive community together to say, you know what, we’re going to fight for a progressive agenda but we cannot have four more years of Donald Trump in the White House,” Sanders said Sunday on “Face the Nation.”
The senator, who identifies as a political independent but sought the Democratic nomination for president during his own progressive campaigns in 2016 and 2020, is a self-described democratic socialist and a vocal advocate for more accessible health care, women’s rights and environmental policies to address climate change, among other issues. He urged voters who are dissatisfied with the work the Biden administration has done to recognize that “we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history.”
“Donald Trump is not only a pathological liar, has not only waged an insurrection, if you like, to prevent President Biden from taking office, not only is denying American democracy, moving against American democracy,” Sanders said. Trump surrendered last week at the jail in Fulton County, Georgia, where he and 18 others were indicted for their alleged involvement in a “criminal enterprise” endeavoring to overturn his loss in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. The former president is charged with 13 felony counts and has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Trump has also been charged with felony counts in three other jursidications, including federal charges related to his alleged attempt to stop the transfer of power in 2020 and his alleged mishandling of classified documents and charges in New York state related to allegedly falsifying business records.
Trump is in the running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Mr. Biden officially launched his reelection campaign in April. In the announcement, the president explicitly positioned himself opposite Trump, and some of his other Republican opponents, on key issues like abortion and social security. Mr. Biden’s campaign announcement video also included footage of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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“Around the country, MAGA extremists are lining up to take those bedrock freedoms away,” Mr. Biden said in the video. “Cutting social security that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.”
Sanders endorsed Mr. Biden in April. Sanders referenced several of those issues in underscoring what he believes is the importance of building “a strong progressive agenda” to win the presidency in 2024.
“I think President Biden is going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and I think if he runs on a strong progressive agenda he’s not only going to win, he’s going to win by a strong vote,” Sanders said during his “Face the Nation” appearance.
“Because when you look at the Republican Party, it’s not only that you have a former president who has been impeached twice, indicted four times,” Sanders said. “These are people who deny women in this country the right to control their own bodies. Really? In 2023, is that where we are in this country? Not recognizing the reality of climate change, wanting more tax breaks for billionaires… that’s what their agenda is. So, I think that in any kind of serious campaign, President Biden and the Democrats will do quite well against that reactionary agenda.”
Sanders called on Democrats to develop a progressive agenda that prioritizes the needs of seniors and of young people by expanding Medicare and addressing student debt.
“If we demand that the wealthiest people in this country start paying their fair share of taxes, if we come up with a progressive agenda, I think we’re going to win and win big,” he said. “And when we win big, we have to make it clear that we stand with the working class of this country, against the kind of corporate greed that we now see.”
