It’s never an official endorsement until the words “I endorse” are uttered, but U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) came about as close to officially endorsing Hillary Clinton as he’s going to get on Friday morning.
During an interview with MSNBC, he was asked if he was going to vote for Clinton in the November general election. He said, “Yes,” and then added, “I think the issue right here is I’m gonna do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump.”
“I think Trump in so many ways will be a disaster for this country if he were to be elected president,” he added. “We do not need a president whose cornerstone of his campaign is bigotry, is insulting Mexicans and Latinos and Muslims and women, who does not believe in the reality of climate change when virtually every scientist who has studied this issue understands that we have a global crisis. This is not somebody who should become president.”
A short time later, while appearing on CBS, Sanders explained why—if he’s voting for Hillary—he hasn’t fully endorsed his Democratic presidential primary opponent. Ultimately, he said, it’s because she hasn’t said what he “wants to hear from her” on several important issues, such as his plan for tuition-free college, the $15 minimum wage, and his desire for “health care for all.”
“I would love her to say that, and I would love her to move forward aggressively to make that happen,” he said.
Sanders has yet to concede the Democratic presidential nomination, much less endorse Clinton. He said he is “hopeful” he can eventually do both, preferably before the Democratic National Convention next month in Philadelphia. {eoa}
