VP Biden in sit down interview with us just now: "I've talked to Bernie. Bernie is going to endorse her." @NPRWeekend
— Rachel Martin (@rachelnpr) June 30, 2016
Well, it seems Vice President Joe Biden sort of spilled the beans concerning Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plans to endorse his primary rival Hillary Clinton for president. Biden revealed this aspect of the 2016 race during a sit-down interview with National Public Radio. Sanders has been very adamant about making sure Donald Trump is defeated come November, so this development was something to be expected when the primary dust settled. Who else was he going to back in this endeavor? If anything, Sanders has pretty much won regarding building a foundation within the Democratic Party to shift it further to the left.
Via The Hill:
Michael Briggs, a Sanders spokesman, would not confirm or deny the vice president's assertion.
“We are in the process of talking” with the Clinton campaign, he said, and noted that the candidates met earlier this month to talk about next steps.
Sanders has been withholding his endorsement for weeks, since primary season ended on June 14.
While Sanders has repeatedly promised he’ll do what he can to stop presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump from winning the White House, he's turned down numerous chances to endorse Clinton and has instead shifted his campaign's focus toward winning policy and platform concessions at the convention.
Then again, the vice president of the United States is a pretty solid source. Sen. Sanders obviously doesn’t agree with Clinton on her speeches to Wall Street banks, the use of a super PAC during this election, or the alleged shady dealings of the Clinton Foundation. We saw that on the trail, but he lost. He lost decisively to Clinton, and now he seems to be readying his now expected announcement to endorse her for president. In his mind, Clinton as president working with a Democratic Senate (and potentially House) is better than Trump in the White House. That’s a given point. Mr. Sanders is a principled man, but he got beat. And now it’s time to unite. On the Republican side, we’re not really seeing that concerning the leaders of the party. Typical Republican voters are rallying around Trump however. I’m not saying that I’ve jumped on the Trump train, but he’s won the primary. It’s over. Rubio, Paul, Bush, and the lot are not going to be the saviors and take the nomination from Trump. You can’t always get what you want. That’s the nature of life and politics. What I will say is that a Trump White House is better than a Clinton one. Trump is a roll of the dice on the Second Amendment, and a whole host of other issues, but (again) that does seem a lot better than Clinton—who we all know what she would do once in the Oval Office.
The point is that the honeymoon period where the Democrats were ripping each other apart could end. Mr. Sanders is expected to place beating Trump above all things for the remainder of the election. Republicans should consider having the same mindset concerning Clinton. You may not like Trump, you may not even vote for him—but conservatives disgruntled over their candidate losing to him should put that aside and channel their energy and frustration into beating Hillary. Sanders is gearing up to do that regarding Trump.
Concerning Biden, this isn't the first time he's acted as a spoiler. He spilled the beans on Obama's support for gay marriage in 2012–and the White House was not happy about it.
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