Sanders: Trump wants socialism for business and wealthy

Bernie Sanders wants to change the Americans' view of socialism.

The Vermont senator is ready to defend Wednesday democratic socialism in his over-all defense – a label that has inspired a movement for the election of its president, while raising lingering doubts about his eligibility. In an interview with POLITICO, Sanders said his speech at George Washington University was aimed at explaining "what democratic socialism means to me and what democratic socialism means to me is the continuation of what Franklin Delano Roosevelt talked."

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Sanders will argue that it is time to complete the "unfinished business" of the New Deal and guarantee the economic rights of Americans. These include, he said, the right to decent work, affordable housing and dignified retirement. He also expects Dr. Martin Luther King to echo Dr. United's famous words that the United States has "socialism for the rich" and "brutal individualism for the poor."

"What I'm talking about tomorrow is not particularly radical," said Sanders. "But we have to put it on the table and make sure everyone understands why economic rights are human rights."

The speech comes as Republicans attack Sanders as a sympathizer of communism and plan to make socialism a central element of the presidential campaign, regardless of the Democratic candidate. The Republican National Committee publishes a series of press releases entitled "Bernie commies". POLITICO and other media closely examined Sanders' diplomatic visits to the Soviet Union and Nicaragua in the 1980s, which were turned into weapons by his detractors.

But far from moving away from the controversial term, Sanders intends to own it. His assistants said the speech was the beginning of an attempt to reverse the misconceptions about Sanders. His shameless liberalism, they say, is precisely what makes him the best candidate to beat Trump in the general election.

"It's important, not only that the senator explain his philosophy and what he thinks are the main social ills of the country," said Faiz Shakir, head of the Sanders campaign, "but also the fact that he believes firmly that the oligarchy in the way it will expose, that people respond to it and that it is a good policy. "

The biggest hurdle for Sanders is to persuade older voters – people who have experienced the cold war and have a much less perverse view of socialism. According to a Gallup poll of 2018, only 28% of Americans over 65 have a positive view of the term.

"I do not think it's a productive direction for him," said an elected Democratic leader from Pennsylvania who requested anonymity. Referring to some of Sanders' recent campaign moves in the country, the manager added, "Going to Bethlehem, I thought, was great – going to Fox News and killing him on Fox News was good. to the left … is not going to pick up new voters in Pennsylvania.You will only lose this way. "

But, according to polls, this address could potentially attract more younger voters, some of whom have recently moved away from him. A majority of young Americans have a positive view of socialism and a recent Axios survey found that 55% of women aged 18 to 54 would prefer to live in a socialist country. Since Sanders' speech in 2015, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become a dominant social media figure, and Democratic Socialists have secured seats in state legislatures and municipal councils across the country, including Pennsylvania. .

"We have made real progress in making millions of Americans understand what socialism is all about," said Sanders, referring to what has changed since his 2015 speech.

Sanders' speech comes as he gets caught by two rivals: center Joe Biden of the center and fellow Progressive Elizabeth Warren on his left. Biden defied the predictions he imploded quickly and Warren, who calls himself a "full-fledged capitalist," piqued Sanders' morale by improving his position in the national polls and the first polls.

"While Elizabeth Warren is going up to the polls and is publishing plan by plan, I think Sanders is trying to get back to basics and say, 'Here's how I went,'" said Rebecca. Katz, a progressive consultant who advised Cynthia Nixon governor campaign. "And maybe the unspoken part is," This is where I differ from Warren. "

When asked if his view of democratic socialism differentiated him from Warren, Sanders would not want to say anything: "Elizabeth Warren will run her campaign, Elizabeth is a friend of mine, so I will not comment on Elizabeth's. "

In the interview, Sanders blamed the media for spreading a misleading perception of democratic socialism as "authoritarian communism." And if you know my record, I've been a fierce opponent of all the forms of authoritarianism, whether or not it exists in the Soviet Union, that it exists in China, in Saudi Arabia, wherever it exists, I believe in a vibrant democracy. "

"I have to tell you that I find it a bit hypocritical on the part of people to try to suggest that I do not believe in democracy at the same time that Trump supports and likes, apparently, Mohammad Bin Salman, a dictator of the worst in Saudi Arabia and Putin in Russia, "he added.

The speech is a blow to the socialists, who were once considered marginal actors in American politics. Sanders is much better known now than when he had delivered his last great speech on socialism four years ago, to make sure more people would watch.

"Sanders delivers this speech at a time when Trump and the Republicans are trying to portray all Democrats as Socialists. I would have liked that to be the case! "Said Maria Svart, National Director of the Socialist Democrats of America, who sponsored Sanders. "Sanders knows that too many people inside the Beltway do not want to know – that Democrat politicians who are asking health insurance for a mid-way climate policy will take us directly into the claws of authoritarianism. "

David Duhalde, political director of Our Revolution and former deputy director of the DSA, founded by Sanders, added that the fact that Sanders devotes a second speech to democratic socialism "really energizes the thousands of DSA members who work to elect him. "

Sanders will also use his speech to accuse Trump of liking "corporate socialism" and criticizing his favorite man: Wall Street.

"In 2008, after their greed, their recklessness and their illegal behavior, the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression – millions of Americans losing their jobs, their homes and their savings for life – the religious affiliation of Wall Street to an unhindered capitalism came to an abrupt end. "Read a copy of Sanders' prepared remarks provided by his staff. "In one night, Wall Street became major socialists in power and begged for the largest federal bailout in American history: more than a trillion dollars in Treasury and even more from the Fed . "