Even though Vermont Democrat senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders identifies as a “democratic socialist” he was pressed from the left by the co-hosts of The View on Friday’s show. Bernie fan Joy Behar actually apologized for having to ask him “tough questions.”
With an apologetic tone, she lamented, “Forgive me for a tough question,” before going on to press Sanders from the left:
"Many Democrats still say you’re a big reason why Hillary lost...How do you answer claims that you splintered the party and put Trump in the White House and God forbid, you could do it again in 2020?" she pressed.
Sanders objected to the idea that his radical policies were unpopular. After he ranted about support for universal healthcare, making public colleges “free” and enforcing a “living” minimum wage, Behar abandoned the charade of being critical. “The American people want those three things!” she gushed in agreement. Co-host Sunny Hostin picked up from where Behar left off, grilling Sanders on whether he was leftist enough to win in 2020.
“Those ideas made you stand out then, for good or for bad, but now they don’t seem so radical. Now what makes you stand out, among the crowd?” she asked. Later on, Hostin criticized Sanders for not supporting slavery reparations:
Now, the last time you ran, your poll numbers with African-Americans were quite low, and you also don't support reparations for slave defendants -- descendants rather. Why do you think your poll numbers are low and why don't you support reparations?
However, Hostin also pressed the candidate on his party’s radical politics, questioning him about Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s recent statement saying couples needed to avoid having children to save the planet. “Does she have a point there, or is that too radical?” Hostin asked.
Sanders avoided condemning or agreeing with Ocasio-Cortez, saying it was a personal decision for couples to make. Hostin actually pressed again, asking if the Green Deal went “too far."
“You cannot go too far on the issue of climate change. The future of the planet is at stake!” he cried, to audience applause. So it seems population control isn’t too far for Sanders.
Abby Huntsman and Meghan McCain also asked the senator about his other controversies over abuse in his 2016 campaign. Huntsman asked about the female staffers who complained they had been sexually harassed by male staffers while McCain pressed Sanders on why complaints from former staffers that he was verbally abusive didn't get play with the media like Amy Klobuchar's did. Sanders denied the "mean boss" stories were true and diverted the conversation to a friendlier topic, the emergency of climate change. Joy Behar assisted her friend again on that issue.
“I hope that you'll join me, I'm going to start a movement,” she declared, before sharing her plan of forcing weathermen to share how the polar caps have changed on a daily basis, to scare Americans about the threat of climate change. “If the weather men would do that I think people would be paying attention more, wouldn't you?” she asked Sanders, who agreed that was a good idea.
None of the hosts asked Sanders about hiring an illegal immigrant to be his new spokesperson.
