Bernie Sanders Won't Win Against Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton Says

Hilary Clinton says she is not standing behind any particular candidate for president just yet, but she maintains that Bernie Sanders is not the Democrats’ strongest nominee against Donald Trump. Sanders is a former campaign rival of Clinton and is currently one of the national frontrunners for what seems to be a two-person race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“I don’t think he’d be our strongest nominee, no,” said Hilary Clinton on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of the 2020 contest. “That’s what this primary process is about. Let’s see who emerges, but for everybody voting today or in any of the contests ahead of time, the most important issue is who can defeat Donald Trump,” she added.

Following her harsh comments about Sanders on Tuesday, Clinton expressed on Sunday her support for Biden and said she was hopeful that Sanders would support him if the former vice-president wins the nomination. Clinton also explained why she thought Biden had a much broader appeal than Sanders, noting that his Super Tuesday victories reflected the kind of coalition he was building. “He is building the kind of coalition that I had basically,” she said.

“It’s a broad-based coalition. In 2016, I finished, you know, most of the work I needed to do for the nomination on Super Tuesday, and then it kind of lingered on. And I think Joe is on track to doing exactly the same thing: Putting together a coalition of voters who are energized,” said Clinton.

Clinton’s recent statements about Sanders and apparent support for Biden weren’t surprising. The former Democratic presidential nominee has never really been a fan of Bernie Sanders. Despite them being on the same team, Clinton has always been critical of Sanders, making disparaging remarks against him in her public outings. While Clinton vowed to support the nominee of the Democratic party, she admitted she wasn’t sure if Sanders would ask her to campaign for him if it turns out to be him.

“I don’t know if he would ask me to campaign for him because I have no idea what he is thinking about for a general election campaign,” she said. Clinton also said she hopes Sanders would be more cooperative in unifying the Democratic Party. “His failure and the behavior of a lot of his top aides and certainly many of his supporters were not helpful. I can only hope that they understand we all have to have a singular goal of defeating Donald Trump,” she said.