On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert had Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as a guest. Yes, the crowd went nuts. Yes, Sanders spouted off the same talking points he said on the 2016 stump about health care being a right, taking on the so-called billionaire class, and having a government that works for everyone, not just the one percent. Cue the uproarious applause from the audience.
Colbert also mentioned Hillary Clinton’s book, What Happened, in which the two-time presidential loser accused Sanders of dividing the Left, making it harder for her to unite the Democratic Party, and therefore, damaged America by going after her in the primaries. Clinton also noted that she’s a proud Democrat, whereas she wished Bernie would become one. Yeah, again, it ignores Hillary’s weaknesses coming into the race, along with her trip ups that were solely her fault. Sanders, as a primary challenger, would have been remiss in not exploiting some of them to win a few contests. Second, some of the attacks she lobs at Sanders and other Democrats in her book were probably some things she should have touched upon more aggressively on the campaign trail, like the fact that Sanders is, indeed, not really a Democrat.
Democrats have been dreading the release of this book and the news cycle it will create, which is a retelling of the party’s 2016 collapse that saw Clinton lose and the GOP become the dominant political force in the country. Yet, as some in Democratic circles still like Clinton, many are groaning the reopening of wounds between the progressive and establishment wings of the party that have never fully healed. One Hillary surrogate flatly said she should shut the f**k up and go home.
While Sanders has said that there are too many issues at stake to wallow in this, he did offer a swipe at the former secretary of state with Colbert, noting that he can understand why one would be upset losing to the most unpopular candidate in history.
“I understand, look, you know—Secretary Clinton ran against the most unpopular candidate in the history of this country, and she lost and she was upset about it. And I understand that,” he said. Yet, he added it’s time to go forward because there is so much at stake.
I would also add that Hillary Clinton wasn’t a popular candidate either. Her approval post-2016 hovers around 40 percent.
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