Sanders: This Isn’t A ‘Monarchy!’ We Can’t Assume Clinton Will Be Nominee

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Tuesday likened assumptions that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, would be the party’s nominee to having a “monarchy.”

“We don’t live, thank God, in an authoritarian country. People dissent,” Sanders said in an interview with NBC News’ “Today.”

“If we take your assumption and Clinton’s supporters’ assumption of the logical conclusion, you know what we should do? We should go back to a monarchy and not have any elections at all,” Sanders added.

Clinton has begun to assert in interviews that she will be the Democratic presidential nominee. At the same time, she’s said she knows “it’s hard” to quit a race for the White House, having lost the nomination to then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008. She said Sunday that Sanders has “every right” to finish the campaign as he chooses, while again repeating the she expected to emerge as the nominee.

Meanwhile, the Vermont senator said Sunday that Clinton was “jumping the gun” by saying she’d be the Democratic nominee.

The latest delegate count from the Associated Press showed Clinton had secured a total of 2,293 delegates while Sanders had a total of 1,533 delegates. A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

Sanders later said in the “Today” interview that he could see the party’s convention this summer in Philadelphia being “messy” as his supporters try to push a progressive agenda into the party platform.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: