Sanders to outline 'what democratic socialism means to me'
WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to rebut President Donald Trump's attempts to cast him and Democrats as too liberal, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to give a speech Wednesday on democratic socialism, the economic philosophy that has guided his political career.
He made similar remarks during his first presidential campaign in 2016, when he faced questions about his decadeslong association with democratic socialists. He's again confronting criticism from in and out of his party during his second presidential bid, and the speech, which the campaign is billing as a major address, is an attempt to directly speak to the scrutiny.
But he's doing this in a reshaped political landscape in which he's no longer the sole progressive taking on an establishment candidate. He's one of nearly two dozen Democratic White House hopefuls, several of whom are also unabashed liberals. And they're all operating in an environment dominated by Trump.
"We now have a president who is attacking me and others because we believe in democratic socialism," Sanders said in an interview today with The Associated Press in which he previewed his speech. "This is a president who believes in socialism, but the difference is he believes in socialism for large corporations and the wealthy, not the working people."
"What tomorrow is about," he added, "is defining what democratic socialism means to me."
Trump and his allies have lambasted Sanders and Democrats, warning against what they call the threat of creeping socialism.
In this year's State of the Union address, Trump declared that America "will never be a socialist country." Weeks later, when Sanders entered the race, a spokeswoman for his campaign said that Sanders had "already won the debate in the Democrat primary because every candidate is embracing his brand of socialism" and that Trump is the only candidate who will keep the country "free, prosperous and safe."
Last month in Louisiana, Trump referred to Sanders as "crazy" and told the crowd the senator had "not good energy."
Sanders last spoke in depth about democratic socialism in November 2015. Also speaking in Washington, he invoked the legacies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., arguing that democratic socialism was reflected in their priorities.
While in today's interview Sanders promised he would be more explicit this time in describing his belief in democratic socialism, some of the themes he will discuss echo the 2015 remarks, including positioning himself as the heir of the ideals that originated with Roosevelt in 1944.
"Over 80 years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt helped create a government that made huge progress in protecting the needs of working families," Sanders will say, according to prepared remarks. "Today in the second decade of the 21st century, we must take up the unfinished business of the New Deal and carry it to completion. This is the unfinished business of the Democratic Party and the vision we must accomplish."