Bernie Sanders Says America Is Not Great In Some ‘Very Significant Ways’

During a Sunday evening appearance on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke to host Anderson Cooper about his platform, which has led him to frontrunner status after historically winning the popular vote in the first three early state primaries.

According to a transcript from Breitbart, Cooper noted that Trump was elected thanks to speaking to white middle-class and working-class Americans and promising to restore greatness to the country.

“Your stump speech, your critics say, sounds like nothing works in America, hasn’t for generations. Is America great?” Cooper asked.

“In many ways, we are,” the Vermont senator responded. “In some ways, very significant ways, we’re not.”

Sanders pointed to the many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and the reported 500,000 people that are homeless in the country — a significant portion of whom are veterans. Conversely, Sanders noted the success of his father, who came to the country with no money, no grasp of the English language, and limited education.

“We are a great nation, because people like my father would never have dreamed in a million years that their kids would become United States senators or be successful in many other ways.”

Unlike Michael Bloomberg‘s movement — which has drawn the support of Judge Judy — that says the U.S. is “perfect,” Sanders has taken aim at the purported unchecked capitalism that he believes is contributing to the country’s growing wealth inequality. As the senator’s movement continues to grow, he has received pushback from people who think he is driving the Democratic Party too far to the left, CNN reported.

“I congratulate Senator Sanders on a strong showing today, but before we rush to nominate Senator Sanders, let us take a sober look at what’s at stake,” said fellow candidate Pete Buttigieg, after the progressive’s Nevada win.

Buttigieg continued to criticize the senator’s movement and called him unelectable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UltlLX7t_qU&feature=emb_logo

According to Paste Magazine, the data contradicts Buttigieg and suggests Sanders is the most electable candidate against Donald Trump in 2020. The publication points to the five national polls released in the last week that show Sanders as the only candidate beating Trump in all five head-to-head comparisons. In addition, electoral map data shows that a progressive candidate like Sanders has a clear path to the nomination.

“It’s a mistake to simply look at the American electorate as people who vote on a sliding scale from conservative to liberal,” the piece concluded, noting that the key Midwestern states that helped Trump in 2016 did so because of traits that Sanders also possesses — mistrust of the establishment, fighting against the status quo, and novelty.