Former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader predicted Friday that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton will win the general election “by dictatorship.”
“She’s going to win by dictatorship. Twenty-five percent of superdelegates are cronies, mostly. They weren’t elected. They were there in order to stop somebody like Bernie Sanders, who would win by the vote,” the five-time presidential candidate told U.S. News, adding that believes Mrs. Clinton is a “corporatist, militarist Democrat.”
Mr. Nader, 82, praised presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump for bringing some important issues to light.
“He’s questioned the trade agreements. He’s done some challenging of Wall Street — I don’t know how authentic that is. He said he’s against the carried interest racket, for hedge funds. He’s funded himself and therefore attacked special interest money, which is very important,” Mr. Nader told U.S. News. “But he’s lowered the level of political debate to unheard-of depths of salacious, slanderous and vacuousness, garnished with massive self-boosterism and repetition.
“And that’s not good, because that brought a lot of money into the media and that’s the kind of debates they’re going to want to goad,” he added.
Mr. Nader scolded the media for promoting “that kind of vacuous, wild, charge-counter-charge, slur-and-slander that brings them high ratings and high advertising rates.”
He wouldn’t reveal who he is supporting this presidential election, but said Mr. Sanders and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein best represent his views.
“I think he made very few mistakes. He raised a lot of money, so he was viable, from small contributions. He didn’t back down on his record of 35 years. He wasn’t given enough debates … he couldn’t do anything about closed primaries. And he couldn’t do anything about the superdelegates. But he almost won and he would’ve won,” he told U.S. News. “He would’ve defeated Trump easily, much more easily than [Mrs. Clinton] would’ve defeated him. He doesn’t produce gaffes. He’s very consistent and he’s scandal-free. What politician 35 years in office is scandal-free?”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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