AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as “taking the right issue on all issues that are important to working people” while stating of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton “It’s as if she’s working to get our vote, but not our support” on Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hardball.”
Trumka was asked, “Could you endorse Bernie Sanders if he took the right positions, and he does on trade issues, and other inequality issues?” He responded, “I think Bernie Sanders is taking the right issue on all issues that are important to working people, about jobs, about inequality, about the right to a voice on the job so we can have — get a fair share of the wealth that we produce. I think he’s doing that, and I think that’s why he’s having success. I don’t think people care about labels, what they call themselves. They’ve tried to do that too long, and people are fed up with that. They want someone who’s going to solve their problem.”
Trumka added, “I don’t know what the difference is between a Democratic Socialist and a Democrat. I don’t really know what the difference is.”
Trumka concluded that he doesn’t support Vice President Joe Biden more than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and said of their positions on trade, “he’ll have to face that very issue, and it will be a negative for him in an election, in a primary, and in a general election. Her not taking a clear, concise position is holding her back. It’s as if she’s working to get our vote, but not our support. If she gets our support, there’s nothing that can stop her.”
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