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Shortly after disclosing his tax returns for the past 10 years, Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday rejected the idea that his new status as a millionaire was a testament to capitalism and the "American dream."
Appearing on Fox News at a town hall event, Mr. Sanders defended his wealth as the result of an honestly popular book he wrote.
"If anyone thinks I should excuse myself for writing a bestseller," he says, "I'm not going to do it."
But he did not answer directly to the question, asked by an audience member, to know if he should pay himself more tax now than he is. member of the "1%", for which he spent years demanding larger contributions.
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Then Bret Baier, one of the moderators of the Fox, asked Mr. Sanders: "When you wrote the book and you made money, is not that the definition of capitalism and the dream American?"
"No," Mr. Sanders replied. "I mean, you know, what we want, it's a country where everyone has opportunities. You know, I have a university degree. I am a senator from the United States. But many people do not have a university degree. Many people are not US senators. I want everyone in the country to benefit from health care, from an education, to be able, when they open water, to have drinking water, not to drink it. toxic water. "
The message seemed to be that his financial success had been possible because he had systemic benefits that many other Americans did not have. Bret, he said, "so we fight for a society where few people can make a lot of money, but a society where everyone has the opportunity to live in safety and dignity. "
Sanders is the first Democratic candidate to participate in a public meeting in 2020 on Fox News, known for its prime time Conservative hosts and their energetic defenses of President Trump. The National Democratic Committee said he would hold no debate on Fox in 2020, citing disturbing links between the network and the president.
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Mr. Sanders met from time to time with Mr. Baier and co-host Martha MacCallum. At times, he was clearly defensive, pushing back the questions. For example, while he reiterated that wealthy individuals and corporations should pay more taxes, "whether it be me or you or anyone else", it is not a good idea to say that it is important for you. He has not responded directly to the question of whether he would personally be willing to pay a maximum marginal tax rate of one percent, as he proposed for high-income Americans during his 2016 campaign.
In a tone of frustration, if not pure agitation, he tried to turn the question over to the moderators, saying that Mr. Baier and Mrs. MacCallum had surely done more than he had done.
When the moderators found that Mr. Sanders had benefited from the tax legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Congress at the end of 2017, he pointed out that he had voted against it.
Mr Sanders, who is Jewish and lost many family members in the Holocaust, also defended the representative Ilhan Omar, who was violently attacked by President Trump for his comments on 9/11 and Israel. Mr Sanders said that although she may need to improve her communication with Americans of Jewish descent, he did not think she was anti-Semitic.
"It is not anti-Semitic to criticize a right-wing government in Israel," he declared with applause.
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