Early in 2019, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said, “Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.” This isn’t surprising. Sen. Sanders has always claimed to be a Democrat-Socialist. Sanders has portrayed himself as a grassroots economic populist who wants to focus on income inequality and higher taxes for the rich.
There appears to be something rotten in Bernie’s world, though. Adam Shaw, in a Fox News blog
from February 21, 2019 notes that “In 2016, he bought a $575,000 four-bedroom lake-front home in his home state. This is in addition to a row house in Washington D.C., as well as a house in Burlington, Vermont.”
You read that right. The Democrat-Socialist who regularly rails against the rich, is rich. Now, before we get too far, let’s realize that there’s nothing wrong with success. If Sen. Sanders and his wife can afford three houses, more power to them. However, “Crazy” Bernie (as Rush Limbaugh calls him) is fine with making a lot of money himself, he just thinks it’s wrong if you do.
Sen. Sanders’ hypocrisy knows no bounds. Here are a few examples.
Ryan Cooper, in The Week from April 16, 2019, wrote, “Bernie Sanders has released 10 years of tax returns. It turns out he is pretty rich. He took in $561,293 in adjusted gross income in 2018 — but over a million dollars in both 2017 and 2016, when he had a ton of book revenue coming in. That makes him the third-highest earning Democratic candidate this year, behind Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.”
As Bernie sees it, being a millionaire is good, for him. He told a Fox News Town Hall on April 15, 2019, "If anyone thinks I should apologize for writing a bestselling book, I'm sorry, I'm not going to do it.”
Stuart Varney, on Fox and Friends, April 16. 2019 accused Sanders of hypocrisy, noting, “He’s a one- percenter, he’s a millionaire, and he’s a socialist. I’ve got a problem with that, He’s trying to make sure that we, the rest of us on our way up, don’t accumulate the kind of pile that he already has!”
His hypocrisy is evident, even to those on the Left. Think Progress, a leftist group, wrote on a post from April 10, 2019, “It’s all very off-brand and embarrassing, but Sen. Bernie Sanders is a millionaire. Turns out railing against ‘millionaires and billionaires’ can be quite the lucrative enterprise.”
If the Left wants to devour their own in the primary, I’m all for it. It is interesting, though, that Crazy Bernie’s hypocrisy is being called out from both sides.
Sen. Sanders hypocrisy isn’t limited to making money. His hypocritical flair is evident in how he coddles Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). You remember Rep. Omar, right? She’s the freshman congresswoman who’s continuously attacked Israel and tweeted anti-Semitic stereotypes. Most recently, she referred to what happened on 9/11 as “someone did something.”
Sen. Sanders is Jewish, yet he fiercely defends Rep. Omar. Gregory King, in a CNN Blog from April 15, 2019, wrote, “Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday night defended Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress, against ‘outrageous, racist’ attacks, while insisting again that criticism of ‘a right-wing government in Israel’ is not tantamount to anti-Semitism.”
There’s a lot to unpack in that crazy statement. First, Sanders believes Rep. Omar is a victim of racist attacks and yet believes her actions and words are not racist. Bernie believes it is right for Rep. Omar to have her own opinions about the government in Israel, but is convinced that, somehow, the citizens of Israel are wrong for voting for the government they have. As crazy as he may be, he can’t have it both ways.
Sen. Sanders is hardly the only hypocrite in the Democrat field of potential and announced
candidates. He does, however, stand out. In the Fox News Town Hall on April 15. 2019, he “admits
there's a ‘serious problem’ at the border.” However, he calls President Trump’s suggestion to bus illegal aliens to sanctuary cities “a political stunt.” He calls for building more and better shelters on the border.
Let’s get this one straight. It’s right for cities on the border to have to utilize finite resources to manage what he, himself, calls a “serious problem.” However, when it comes to the sanctimonious, sanctuary cities, it’s ridiculous to think they ought to help handle the problem.
Tennessee Williams once said, “The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that's also a hypocrite.” Couldn’t agree more.
