Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has explained how there is a difference between voting for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and supporting her, as well as detailing his plans to ensure Clinton keeps her campaign promises.
Sanders’ comments come as WikiLeaks continues to release a barrage of emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta which prove that the Clinton campaign and the DNC worked against Sanders during the primary contest.
Speaking to Now This producer Armand Aviram, Sanders pointed to the fact that the short term goal is to defeat Donald Trump, “who, in my view, would be a disaster for this country.”
Sanders was asked to explain how he sees his political revolution continuing under a Clinton administration.
“It’s not my political revolution. It’s your political revolution,” he began. “We made history and we ran perhaps the most consequential campaign in the modern history of America.”
“Ideas that at one point were thought to be crazy and fringe, are now incorporated into the Democratic National Platform,” Sanders continued. “About 80 percent of the Democratic National platform is what we believe in.”
“So when you ask me where do we go from here in a sense, it means we implement this,” he said, pointing to the platform.
When asked what he would say to Sanders supporters who want to use their vote to send a message to the Democratic Party, the former Democratic presidential nominee said he understands his supporters’ anger and bitterness towards Clinton.
“People have to vote their conscience,” he said. “I’m not going to lecture anybody who is voting for a third party candidate. I was a third party candidate. I’m the longest serving Independent in the history of the United States Congress!”
“But I think from a practical point of view, I would hope that all those people who worked with me on this campaign, who supported me, understand that Donald Trump would be a real, real, real disaster for this country.”
“On the other hand, the day after the election, we don’t sit back and say, ‘well Clinton is president’,” he added. “What we do is mobilize our people to make certain that hopefully President Clinton and hopefully a Democratic Senate moves forward with an agenda that helps transform his country.”
Sanders credited the millions of Americans who “stood up and fought back and told the world that it will be the American people who run our country, not a handful of billionaires.”
“I want to see Clinton become president and the day after that, I and the progressive members of Congress – and hopefully millions of other people will say, ‘President-Elect Clinton, here is the Democratic National platform, it is a progressive document.’
“We are going to be introducing legislation piece by piece on trade, on raising the minimum wage, on making public colleges and universities tuition free on a medicare for all, on rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure,” he explained.
Commenting on his supporters’ lack of trust that Clinton would come through on her promises, Sanders said, “In that case, they’re going to have to work with me to make sure that it happens.”
“This is not trust, we’re not here to trust,” he explained. “It is the very opposite of what I am saying.”
Sanders called on his supporters to “mobilize, educate, fight,” and if Clinton and members of Congress don’t follow through with their promises, “let them know how you feel.”