Bernie Sanders: Democrats Shouldn’t Worry About Socialist Label Because Trump ‘Lies All the Time’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said during Friday’s Democrat debate that left-wing voters should not worry about President Trump hitting the Vermont lawmaker’s socialist positions in a potential general election matchup because the president “lies all the time.”

ABC host and debate moderator George Stephanopoulos mentioned Trump taking shots at socialism in the State of the Union address and said, “Those hits are going to keep coming if you’re the nominee. Why shouldn’t Democrats be worried?”

“Because Donald Trump lies all the time,” Sanders said to applause:

Asked why Democrats shouldn't be worried about Pres. Trump's attacks on him with the "socialist" label, Bernie Sanders says, "Because Donald Trump lies all the time." https://t.co/Rhy9aOaDTU #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/nzto98Fkpj

— ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2020

“It’s a sad state of affairs. It really is. He will say terrible things about Joe. He has [said] ugly, disgusting things about Elizabeth, about Amy, about anyone else who’s up here,” he said.

“At the end of the day, the way we defeat Donald Trump — and everybody up here, by the way, is united no matter who wins this damn thing. We’re all going to stand together to defeat Donald Trump,” he said to applause again.

He continued:

I believe that the way we beat trump is by having the largest voter turnout in the history of this country, and that is appealing to working class people who have given up on the political process because they don’t believe that anybody is hearing their pain, perceiving their pain, feeling their pain.

“And we gotta bring young people into the political process,” he added, turning attention to Iowa.

“I’m very proud that in Iowa, we won the popular vote by 6,000 votes. What was most significant, most significant is we increased voter turnout for young people under 29 by over 30 percent. We do that nationally, we’re going to defeat Donald Trump,” he said.

Despite Sanders’ optimism, voter turnout in Iowa failed to reach the record turnout levels seen during the 2008 election, with just 176,000 Iowans participating. The Associated Press described it as “a number of disappointments” and added that it is “certain to rattle Democrats who are banking on high turnout in battlegrounds across the country to win in November.”