Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) argued that the Democratic Party’s leadership can “let the people in” either or take the “sad and tragic option” “to choose to maintain its status quo structure” and let Republicans get a majority of the votes of working people during a speech in Carson, California on Tuesday.
Sanders, who earlier said that “the American people will not elect a candidate like Donald Trump,” stated, “Let me also say a word to the leadership of the Democratic Party, and that is, that the Democratic Party is going to have to make a very, very profound and important decision. It can do the right thing, and open its doors, and welcome into the party, people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change. That is the Democratic Party I want to see, bringing in people who are willing to take on Wall Street, to take on corporate greed, and to take on a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. So I say to the leadership of the Democratic Party, open the doors, let the people in.”
He continued, “Or the other option for the Democratic Party, which I see as a very sad and tragic option, is to choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big money campaign contributions, and be a party with limited participation and limited energy, and a party which incredibly is allowing a right wing extremist Republican party to capture the votes of a majority of working people in this country. Now, I come from the working class of this country, and I will be damned if we will allow the Republican Party, whose job is to represent the rich and the powerful, to win the votes of working class Americans.”
During the speech, the crowd booed Sanders’ mention of the Democratic Party’s leadership and chanted “Bernie or bust!”
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