“Crazy Bernie” and “a pathological liar” circle each other warily, each seeing an advantage in the other as an antagonist.
Sen. Bernie Sanders addresses the crowd during a rally at Macomb Community College on Saturday in Warren, Mich. By Sean Sullivan Sean Sullivan Reporter covering national politics Email Bio Follow April 14 at 1:31 PM MADISON, Wis. — Sen. Bernie Sanders walked onstage here Friday under a gray sky with occasional specks of snow and launched into a full-on attack against President Trump, labeling him a “pathological liar” in a state that was key to Trump’s victory in 2016.
Sanders’s approach faces a significant test in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all part of his current campaign swing, where many white, working-class voters were drawn to Trump’s fiery populist message in 2016. Sanders argues he can reclaim these voters by convincing them he can deliver the economic relief they were seeking all along.
People listen to Sanders as he delivers a speech Saturday in Coopersville, Mich. Campaigning in states that Trump won in 2016, Sanders is working to convince the president’s supporters that the senator is the person capable of bringing them economic relief. Many of the Democratic gains in the 2018 election were made by candidates who were not in Sanders’s mold, including in two of the states he visited in recent days.
That question could take on even greater significance in coming weeks with the expected candidacy of former vice president Joe Biden. Biden’s bipartisan approach would sharpen the contrast between the field’s “unifiers” — Biden, Sen. Cory Booker and former congressman Beto O’Rourke — and its more aggressive partisans like Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren .
Sanders’s campaign manager, meanwhile, calls Trump a “faux Bernie Sanders” on trade, an area where both emphasize protecting American workers. At Sanders’s first campaign rally this year, an introductory speaker cited the “Crazy Bernie” label as a badge of honor. Still, Sanders’s Midwestern rallies of recent days have not attracted the same massive crowds as during his kickoff events in New York and Chicago earlier this year. The audiences have shown some signs of animosity toward current and former rivals; Mark Craig, 66, disparaged Trump and Hillary Clinton with expletives as he cheered on Sanders during his speech Saturday in Warren, Mich.
Anita Cox, a 52-year-old teacher who attended the Sanders meeting in Indiana Saturday wearing a “Feel the Bern” button, said she knows Trump voters whom she says Sanders could win over. “Maybe they believed his lies,” Cox said. “I don’t think anybody’s for basically socialism. I really don’t,” said Sen. Joe Manchin III , who won reelection last year in a state Trump captured decisively in 2016.
Sen. Doug Jones , who faces reelection in a ruby red state, said his constituents want a consensus builder at the top of the ticket, “someone who can govern, who can reach across, not only across the aisle, but within the various groups, within the Democratic Party.” He declined to discuss whether Sanders qualifies.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Bernie Sanders leads the Democratic 2020 pack, now he's coming for the Fox News crowdCan Bernie Sanders now win over those who voted for Donald Trump in 2016?
Read more »
In Iowa, Bernie Sanders and Beto O’Rourke change up their styles to win over skeptical votersSanders sought a more personal connection and O’Rourke added more specifics as both responded to criticisms of their campaigns.
Read more »
Sanders quiets his critics as he becomes a 2020 front-runnerVermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is quieting critics who questioned whether he could recapture the energy of his upstart 2016 campaign, surpassing his rivals in early fundraising and establishing himself as an indisputable front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Less than two months into
Read more »
Bernie Sanders says he does not support open bordersBernie Sanders pushed back against claims that he supports an open border policy, adding that poverty across the globe would cause an influx of migrants to the border if that system was in place
Read more »
Fox & Friends Sunday hosts attacked Bernie Sanders as a 'millionaire socialist' for his successful book salesThe Fox & Friends co-hosts used nearly an entire Sunday morning segment to bash Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, labeling him a 'millionaire socialist' just one day before his Fox News Town Hall Monday evening.
Read more »
Bernie Sanders accuses liberal think tank Center for American Progress of smearing 2020 progressivesBernie Sanders sent a fiery letter to an establishment Democratic Party think tank accusing the John Podesta-founded group of 'smearing' progressive 2020 candidates.
Read more »
How Bernie Sanders, The Socialist Senator, Amassed A $2.5 Million FortuneBernie Sanders may be a fierce critic of the wealthy, but he's multimillionaire from his hit books, real estate, government pensions and investments.
Read more »