Bernie Sanders To Meet With Hillary Clinton This Week: Will He End His Campaign And Officially Concede?
Bernie Sanders announced he will meet with Hillary Clinton on Tuesday evening, the same day the Democratic Party’s nominating process officially closes with the final primary in Washington, D.C. Making the rounds on the Sunday morning political talk shows, Sanders made the announcement during interviews on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’ Face the Nation appearing to take steps toward winding down his presidential campaign.
A Clinton campaign aide confirmed the meeting between Sanders and Clinton will take place. If successful, the discussion between the two could help the Democrats avoid a contested convention.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are set to meet Tuesday night https://t.co/05cJWuq3zb pic.twitter.com/ElcMEMoEpj
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 12, 2016
During their meeting, Sanders said they will talk about Clinton’s campaign and the party’s platform overall. Sanders hopes the platform will be the “most progressive” the party has had to date.
“I think what millions of people really want to understand and see is what kind of commitment she had to addressing the real crises in this country…”
Sanders spoke about his desire for billionaires paying their “fair share” of taxes so the crises facing inner cities, including childhood poverty, can be addressed. Sanders noted the U.S. has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on Earth. Sanders wants to work on turning the Democratic Party into a more “grassroots” party.
Sanders hopes to discuss with Clinton the other key parts of his agenda, ABC News reports, which include income inequality, health care, climate change and college tuition.
“…These are issues that have got to be dealt with, and I look forward to sitting down with Sec. Clinton to see what kind of platform she is going to support and in fact how aggressive she is going to be in addressing the major crises that we face.”
Sanders hinted he might be ending his presidential bid when he said, “After we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong and progressive platform, I will be able to make other decisions.”
Could one of those “other decisions” include Bernie officially conceding to Hillary? After a larger-than-expected primary victory in California last Tuesday night, Clinton was declared the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee; however, that same night Sanders vowed to continue his campaign through the Democratic convention, which will be held this July in Philadelphia.
While Sanders didn’t say whether or not he plans to continue his campaign after Tuesday night, it seems as though the whirlwind of the last several months is winding down for him. Sanders has not officially conceded to Clinton, but that could be coming soon as his tone has shifted from securing delegates to beating the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Sanders said it’s unlikely Clinton will pick him for vice president. As a matter of fact, rumors continue to swirl that Senator Elizabeth Warren could be Clinton’s choice. Sanders said he has great respect for Sen. Warren and hopes Clinton will choose someone to represent the progressive wing of the party.
Bernie Sanders to meet with Hillary Clinton after D.C. primary https://t.co/NutTEvUN3l
— TIME.com (@TIME) June 12, 2016
Sanders did make it clear his focus remains the same – to keep Donald Trump from becoming the next president. Sanders expressed disgust at the kind of campaign Trump has been running.
“I am doing everything that I can and will continue to do everything that I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States. I think this man in a dozen different ways is not fit to become president. I think the idea that he is running on a campaign based on bigotry, insulting Mexicans, Muslims, and women, it’s hard to believe that that is really happening in the year 2016.”
After a larger-than-expected primary victory in California last Tuesday night, Clinton was declared the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee; however, that same night Sanders vowed to continue his campaign through the Democratic convention which takes place this July in Philadelphia. Sanders may very well have changed his mind over this weekend.
What are your thoughts on Bernie Sanders’ meeting with Hillary Clinton?
[Photo by John Locher/AP]