Progressives Struggle to Cope With Bernie Sanders’ Millionaire Status
“I wrote a best-selling book,” he declared. “If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”
Bernie Sanders has spent his entire career railing against “millionaires and billionaires.” In recent years however, Bernie has become a millionaire himself, and some people on the left are having trouble coming to terms with that.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times recently highlighted this exchange from an interview with Sanders:
“April 15 is coming,” Mr. Sanders, whose refusal to release his full past returns has become an issue in the campaign, said in an interview in his office. “We wanted to release 10 years of tax returns. April 15, 2019, will be the 10th year, so I think you will see them.”…
“Not being a billionaire, not having investments in Saudi Arabia, wherever he has investments, all over the world, mine will be a little bit more boring,” Mr. Sanders said.
Reminded that he is a millionaire, he did not shirk from the description.
“I wrote a best-selling book,” he declared. “If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”
This has become such an issue that it’s being discussed on MSNBC.
Paul Crookston writes at the Washington Free Beacon:
MSNBC Panel Questions ‘Problematic’ Way Sanders Talks About Being a Millionaire
Panelists on Stephanie Ruhle’s MSNBC show debated Thursday how Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) can go forward with a class warfare message when he has celebrated the work he did to become a millionaire himself.
Sanders has promised he will release his tax returns, and reports came out showing he’s a millionaire thanks to writing a bestseller. He defended his wealth as rightfully earned by saying “if you write a bestselling book, you can be a millionaire, too.” Bloomberg Opinion editor Tim O’Brien said this typified the “problematic” way Sanders celebrated his own success.
“Not everybody can write a bestseller, and I think what’s problematic about it is he should have a more sophisticated and thoughtful approach to telling people how to actually earn a living and how to empower themselves through jobs,” O’Brien said.
Watch the segment below:
As if that isn’t bad enough, the far left organization ‘Think Progress’ has released a new video which points out that Bernie has dropped the word ‘millionaires’ from his routine to focus only on ‘billionaires’ and that this coincides with the timing of his new wealth. This is brutal:
This 2016 tweet from Bernie didn’t age well, did it?
It’s an outrage that we have seen a proliferation of millionaires while ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 4, 2016
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Comments
Which of his books is the best seller? The Communist Manifesto?
…. bernies socialism: let ME tell you what good I can do with YOUR $$…. (to say nothing of his wife’s thievery, oops, i mean stewardship) & their multiple homes… share the wealth, bern… YOURS
A socialist gives away YOUR money but keeps HIS own money. That is math he can understand.
I think all socialists are aggressive takers (ruling class) or passive takers (somebody else pays for the free stuff given to me by Big Brother [or AOC]).
You know, a Socialist with money is a little like the mule with a spinning wheel.
No one knows how he got it, and danged if he knows how to use it.
Hate to tell the progressive this, but just about all of their political heroes are millionaires, making money through their government contacts, skimming campaign funds, or writing books for idiots with large publication advances. Their own enrichment is priority #1…. whatever they say as part of campaign tomfoolery is priority #2.
Beware the Lying Communists are lying saying Sanders became a millionaire by writing a book. BIG LIE.
Bernie was a millionaire years and years before that.
Caught that on a loco ABC TV affiliate’s inclusion of a 3 to 4 minutes or longer hit piece telling that lie using a young black woman.
Depends on your definition of millionaire. If you mean net assets worth > $1M then no doubt Bernie has been a millionaire for years. Anyone owning 3 houses, including ones in DC and on a Lake anywhere in New England, has to be a millionaire (unless they are deeply levered). These types of millionaires are a dime a dozen now in the United States.
My guess is that Bernie made over $1M in ONE YEAR which is a whole new level of millionaire is far, far less common and is likely to raise some eyebrows amongst the proletariat.
How many American billionaires are there? How many are evil conservative billionaires as opposed to ‘good” leftist billionaires like Soros? Someone should ask him if Soros is a bad billionaire.
Worldwide about 2,100 of which about 1/4 resides in the USA which makes it so laughable that people buy Bernie’s pablum that these ~500 people are the root cause of every problem in America.
In reality, being a “millionaire” isn’t that big of a deal anymore.
Yeah. I’ve spent a good part of my life looking behind sofa cushions, but my house has appreciated. If the 2008 recession had started a year later, I’d have a net worth well over a million.
Yep, it’s been almost a half a century since we abandoned the gold standard. A million bucks ain’t what it used to be, by a long stretch.
For the “oldies” here, there was a TV series called “The Millionaire” in which the main character was assigned each week by his philanthropist employer to deliver the money to this or that person. The stories dealt with each recipient prior and with the presentation of the money. It was a BIG deal to have a million back in the ’50’s. Thanks to inflation… no biggie these days.
Cue Dr. Evil ….
Obie is right. Those of us who worked hard and saved …
Bernie is like any other wealthy socialist. He never has seen a paycheck he didn’t want to redistribute.
Except his own.
So, why didn’t Sanders give a substantial portion to the less fortunate? Oops, I forgot socialists only want to give others money away.
That hypocrisy thingy just pops up in the oddest of places, doesn’t it, Democrats?
So, Bernie made a substantial amount of money over his lifetime. This is the American Dream. The only thing that is important in that is HOW he made his money.
What this illustrates most profoundly is what happens when you adopt an US v THEM strategy with regards to politics. You have to be very careful not to choose a dichotomy where you can change from one side to the other, unwillingly. The Democrat Party has a real problem. For its entire existence, it has used divisive politics to gets its members elected. First, it was running white candidates in support of white power and position against minorities. Then, in the late 1960s it changed to running white candidates who would favor minorities [usually blacks]. Now, minority candidates are running on support of minorities and the white Democrat leadership has problem number one. The Democrats used to run candidates who pledged to see that the poor got more of the nation’s wealth from the rich. That many, if not most, of these elected Democrats became rich themselves was ignored. Then the party began running wealthy candidates, who pledged to strip the wealth from the exceedingly wealthy and give it to the poor. Now, as the poor are being supported by the government, and no longer need rich politicians to promise to get them money from the greedy rich, they are asking why they should support rich candidates. That is problem number 2.
Democrats, like Pelosi, who represent a wealthy, largely white, constituency are being elected by those of their own race and class. Others, like Waters, are being elected by their own race, which is stronger than economic class. But, Waters would stand no chance of election, in her current district, if she was not black. When you expand the constituency to the entire nation, then white, wealthy Democrats have a problem. The only thing which can save them is the Democrat Ministry of Propaganda, the MSM.
So let me get this straight is Bernie claiming he wrote this book all by himself? What about the companies that made the paper, the binding, the ink? What about the retailers that sell it, the trucks that transport it, the taxpayers who funded the roads used to transport the raw materials and finished product around the country.
He didn’t write that book! We all did and we should all share in the royalties.
“Massinsanity” — Does that represent “Mass insanity”, or “Mass in sanity”?
Million dollars worth of income in one year = big deal (particularly for a Senator with fiscal woes in many previous years)
Million dollars worth of assets is no big deal for anybody who makes upper-middle-class income and who has been investing for retirement like they *should* be. Start work out of college, plug 5%+ of your income into a no-load, market-based 401K, don’t (censored) withdraw from it for any reason during your career, and by the time retirement comes around, you should have at or above that magic number.
You have touched many of my rules for success: 1) get a degree with a future (i.e., not a studies degree but a stem [preferably engineering] degree, get a job with a stable employer, get married and maybe have a child, stay with the employer (don’t job hop), stay married, stay in your house, and SAVE AT LEAST 10% OF YOU PAYCHECK. my wife and I did this and are quite comfortable today, even in the tax hell that is Connecticut.
I agree except about job hopping. Strategic job changes bring broader experience. Staying in one place often results in lower pay, most companies will low ball you on pay. During the eighties recession, I saw many people with 15-20-25 years at one company let go. Generally their experience was fairly narrow and they were in a really tough spot.
He acts like becoming a millionaire just happened against his will. Someone should point out to him that he doesn’t have to keep it – he can write a check to the government any time and they’ll be glad to take it.
Bernie believes in meritocracy for he but not for thee.
But, but, but…….
This mope is a millionaire?
How disappointing.
I can’t believe anyone would buy his book.
Nothing wrong with being a millionaire.
Being a hypocrite on the other hand …
Well, if you become a millionaire selling people socialism, that is fraud.
Big deal … millionair’s are a dime a dozen these days.