Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) mistakenly referred to the “Ebola” crisis rather than the Chinese coronavirus multiple times during Sunday night’s CNN debate.
Sanders and Joe Biden (D) on Sunday answered several questions on the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe, but Sanders mistakenly referred to the virus as the “Ebola” crisis three times before correcting himself.
“The Ebola crisis, in my view, exposes the dysfunctionality of our healthcare system and how poorly prepared we are despite how much money that we spend,” Sanders, who has used the crisis to push his vision for Medicare for All, said.
“And the Ebola crisis is also, I think, exposing the cruelty and the unjustness of our economy today,” he continued. “We have more income and wealth inequality in America today than any time in 100 years.”
He continued:
And what that means is that, in the midst of this crisis, you know, if you’re a multimillionaire, no one’s happy about this crisis. You’re going to get through it. You’re going to get everything you need. You’re not worried about health care. You’re not worried about income coming in. Half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. We got people who are struggling, working two or three jobs to put food on the table. What is going to happen to them?
For a third time, Sanders mistakenly referred to the “Ebola” crisis.
“So the lesson to be learned is we have got to move aggressively right now to address the economic crisis as a result of Ebola,” he continued, gesturing to Biden — who previously referred to Ebola — and ultimately correcting himself.
“As a result of — keep talking about Ebola, you got Ebola here in my head right now — as a result of the virus here, the coronavirus,” Sanders clarified.
“What we have got to do also is understand the fragility of the economy and how unjust and unfair it is that so few have so much and so many have so little,” he added.