Bernie Sanders backer Susan Sarandon is not sure she could bring herself to vote for Hillary Clinton if the Vermont senator fails to win the Democratic Party’s nomination — and besides, she says, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump may be the better option over Clinton, anyway.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Monday, the 69-year-old Thelma and Louise star and avid Sanders campaigner said that independent voters and grassroots progressives may have trouble pulling the lever for Clinton in November.
“That’s a legitimate concern, because they’re very passionate and very principled,” Sarandon said of the possibility that Sanders supporters could simply walk away if Clinton becomes the nominee.
“[Clinton] doesn’t believe [in the things Sanders does],” she added. “She’s accepted money from all those people. She doesn’t even want to fight for a $15 minimum wage, so these are people that have not come out before, so why would we think they’re going to come out now, for her?”
“I think Bernie would probably encourage people to [support Hillary if he loses] because he doesn’t have any ego in this thing,” the actress conceded. “But I think a lot of people are, ‘sorry, I just can’t bring myself to [vote for Hillary].'”
When Hayes asked Sarandon how she would vote in a Trump-Clinton matchup, the actress replied: “I don’t know, I’m going to see what happens.”
“Really?” a surprised Hayes pressed.
“Really,” Sarandon replied. “You know, some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately. If he gets in then things will really explode. Some people feel that.”
“Don’t you think that’s dangerous?” Hayes asked.
“I think that what’s going on now — if you think it’s pragmatic to shore up the status quo right now, then you’re not in touch with the status quo,” she replied. “The status quo is not working, and I think it’s dangerous to think that we can continue the way we are, with the militarized police force, with privatized prisons, with the death penalty, with the low minimum wage, threats to women’s rights, and think that you can’t do something huge to turn that around, because the country is not in good shape. If you’re in the middle class, it’s disappearing.”
The actress called Americans’ relationship with status quo government representatives like Clinton a “bad relationship, and now we have to break up with the guy because we realize we’re worth it.”
“We have to stop prioritizing war,” she added. “And I don’t like the fact that she talks about Henry Kissinger as being her go-to guy, and the stuff that’s happened in Libya and other things, I don’t think is good.”
Sarandon was an early supporter of Sanders’ campaign, joining the group Artists for Bernie along with dozens of other actors, filmmakers and entertainment figures in September. In January, the actress appeared alongside Sanders at a rally in Iowa, where she sharply criticized Clinton over her vote to authorize the Iraq War.
“She’s had a job, but what has she done that we’re bragging about? How has she led?” Sarandon said then.
Last month, the actress made headlines when she forcefully defended her decision to support Sanders in a series of tweets.
“I don’t vote with my vagina,” she wrote in February. “It’s so insulting to women to think that you would follow a candidate JUST because she’s a woman.”
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