Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont said Friday that he would vote for Hillary Clinton, conceding that he can do the “arithmetic” to know that she’s the likely Democratic nominee, but he stressed he would be voting to stop Donald Trump.
When asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program if he would vote for Mrs. Clinton, he responded without hesitating: “Yes.”
Mr. Sanders became Mrs. Clinton’s most powerful rival with a far-left agenda and has yet to suspend his campaign despite losing the primary race. He described his vote for her in November as more of a vote against against the likely Republican presidential nominee.
“The issue right here is I’m going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump. I think Trump in so many ways will be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president,” he said. “We do not need a president whose cornerstone of his campaign is bigotry, insulting Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women, who does not believe in the reality of climate change.”
The self-described Democratic socialist said he will continue to push Mrs. Clinton to adopt more liberal policies, such as a $15 federal minimum wage and crack down on Wall Street, but he said that he recognized she would never go as far left as he proposed.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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