Donald Trump has words of favor for Bernie Sanders as Dems fall behind Biden: 'They are staging a coup'
With the Democratic Party drawing a line of distinction between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden ahead of Super Tuesday (March 3), the battleground has started to look clear and President Donald Trump tried to add to the chaos in the opposition’s ranks by speaking in favor of the senator from Vermont.
After saying the exit of former South Bend senator Pete Buttigieg from the presidential race would make the case stronger for Biden who he called “sleepy”, Trump followed up saying the Democrats were “staging a coup” against Sanders. He tweeted it on Monday, March 2, before leaving the White House for an evening rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The mercurial Republican leader even alleged that the Democratic primaries were being rigged against Sanders, suggesting his objection. Trump’s tweet was triggered by the fact that the likes of Buttigieg and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar quit the presidential race and endorsed Biden at a rally in Dallas, Texas. Beto O’Rourke, also a former presidential runner in the Democratic Party who hails from the Lone Star State, appeared on the occasion to endorse Biden.
Trump even speculated that Biden, a former No.2 in the White House, lured his former rivals with administrative positions to bag their support. “‘Probably they'll say, 'Hey, look if I win, I'll put you in the administration”',” Trump added.
Trump rakes up 'quid pro quo' against Biden
“That's called a quid pro quo, right?” the president said. “Quid. Pro. Quo.”
The reference was not difficult to understand. Trump himself was accused of engaging in a quid pro quo vis-a-vis Ukraine which he pressured last year to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who had business dealings there. The issue led to the president’s own impeachment in the House in December though he was acquitted by the GOP-controlled Senate in February.
In another tweet showing a compilation of videos of Biden's verbal gaffes, Trump said the latter seemed like he did not even know what office he is running for.
Though both Biden and Sanders have attacked Trump brutally during their campaigns, the president still sympathized with the Vermont senator who is leading the nomination race with 60 delegates. Biden, who started off slowly, made a strong comeback in the South Carolina primary on February 29.
The anti-Sanders camp in the Democratic Party, which was feeling anxious with the socialist candidate running away with the nomination, found a fresh hope to stop him and soon after, the party’s moderate wing came to stand unitedly behind Biden.
Besides his former rivals, Biden has been getting endorsements from other moderate Democrats as well, like Senate Leader Harry Reid, former California Senator Barbara Boxer.
It is not the first time that Trump has backed Sanders even while calling him “Crazy Bernie”. During the controversy involving Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren a few months ago in which Warren accused Sanders of saying that a woman can’t be the president, the president refused to believe that Sanders could say so. He also made it evident at the time that he didn’t like Sanders.
Even during his trip to India last month, Trump did not stop talking about Sanders and the Democrats’ alleged conspiracy to derail the latter's campaign. He accused the Dems of having leaked intelligence reports to undermine Sanders. “(Democrats) don’t want him, so they put out a thing that Russia is backing him,” he claimed.
No surprise, says Sanders
The veteran senator was not surprised to see things shaping up against him in the Democratic Party to stop him from clinching the nomination, something he failed to get in 2016 as well.
Speaking to CNN on Monday night, the 78-year-old said: “It is no surprise they do not want me to become president because our administration will transform this country to create an economy and a government that works for all of the people not just the 1 percent.”
He also asked Trump to stay out of the Democratic primaries: "President Trump, stay out of the Democratic Primary. Why don't you do your job for a change as president. Stop lying."
Sanders, who was holding a rally in primary-bound Minnesota, said he is running for the White House to defeat Trump.
And to do that, the US is going to need a campaign that has the energy and excitement that represents the working people, young people and those who no more feel hopeful about the political establishment.