Jane O'Meara Sanders said elite establishment figures from both political parties are afraid of her husband's policies promoting affordable health care and education, noting that the U.S. "already has socialism" -- but only for corporations.
Sanders, the wife of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, told Fox News Saturday the "powers-that-be" in America are placing a shallow focus on her husband's "Democratic socialist" label instead of what they're really attacking -- his campaign policies. Jane Sanders said "corporate socialism" has benefited billionaires like President Donald Trump and Michael Bloomberg, while hard-working U.S. taxpayers end up paying for their business subsidies and bailouts. She rejected Joe Biden's claims that Bernie Sanders can't win by citing her husband's back-to-back popular vote victories in Iowa and New Hampshire.
She called on the news media and the Democratic National Committee to talk honestly about the senator's campaign policies, and not focus on labels and Hillary Clinton "hypothetical" scenarios.
"There's clearly a pushed effort to find an alternative to your husband. What do you make of that?" asked Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto.
"I think it's pretty obvious, [Bernie Sanders is] running a campaign that is 'not me, us' that's about getting the working class a fair shake and being able to provide Medicare-for-all, affordable health care, affordable education and a Green New Deal. There are the powers-that-be and the status quo that don't want him to do those things," she said.
"They're using lots of other reasons why they don't support him, but the fact is it's the issues. And we are talking about transforming this country and not having the powers-that-be continue to be the-powers-that-be," Sanders told Cavuto. "Make it more government of the people and by the people."
Cavuto pressed the question and said a lot of DNC and media figures "respect your husband's consistency a great deal, but they think he's a sure loser" solely because of the "Democratic socialist" tag.
"Everyone is talking about the label - we have 'socialism' right now but it's not 'Democratic socialism,' it's called 'corporate socialism,'" Sanders replied.
Her husband has consistently accused the country's wealthiest individuals of running a rich-only form of socialism such as the 2008 taxpayer bailouts of Wall Street. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another self-described "Democratic socialist," had previously echoed similar sentiments to that of Jane Sanders' in asking "hypocritical" Republicans why they don't criticize Trump's massive farm bailout as "socialism."
"President Trump got $800 million for his real estate development company. That's corporate socialism paid for from the working class to the rich," said Sanders. "We see that all the time, subsidies to the fossil fuel industries. We think the priorities need to be shifted so that people get those subsidies and we have the ability to access higher education if you have the willingness and the ability to do so.
"We want people to be less stressed about having health care and being able to afford health care or at-home care for their elderly parents," she continued. "It's which side are you on and I think that's clear to everyone who knows him is that Bernie is honestly and consistently on the side of the working class."
She urged U.S. news media and DNC figures to help "get beyond the top-level 'Democratic socialism' fearmongering and instead focus on improving health care for average Americans.
Sanders brushed off an unsubstantiated Drudge Report claim Saturday that Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton may pair up as running mates, saying: "Mayor Bloomberg can choose whoever he wants for a running mate. But he's not going to get there." She similarly addressed Cavuto's question about Clinton's interview last month in which she claimed "nobody likes" Senator Sanders.
"I like him. And I think a lot of people like him. I'm not here to talk about Hillary Clinton," she replied succinctly.
"I tend to not worry and waste time on hypotheticals. I think what we need to do is win and win well in all the races. The problem is by starting with 25 people, and eleven in Iowa and New Hampshire, the problem with having so many people ... but the field is winnowing."
Sanders acknowledged it is a "concern" the DNC might try to give the nomination to an establishment figure. But she hopes the party will "give the nomination to the person who has the plurality and that it will be fair."
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Jane Sanders: Bernie Campaign Will Remove 'Powers-That-Be' From Government - Newsweek