Hillary Clinton’s surrogates hit Ohio in a big way this weekend. They included Bernie Sanders, who appeared on campuses in Akron and Kent to make the case for his primary supporters to embrace Clinton. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more on that message, and how it was received.
At the University of Akron, it wasn’t the thousands Sen. Sanders often drew during his Democratic primary rallies. In fact, it felt more like a college lecture, with Sanders asking the audience questions about things like oligarchs, Supreme Court decisions and wealth inequality.
But woven into those questions was a theme: Donald Trump represents the rich; Hillary Clinton understands the rest.
Sanders began with a blistering attack on Trump for the years he pursued claims that President Obama is not American-born. Sanders said Trump tried to delegitimize Obama’s presidency because he’s African American.
"If you were worth $10 billion, you might kinda say, 'I don't need more tax breaks. I don't need to destroy Social Security and Medicare and Pell grants.'"
“That is an awful and divisive and terrible thing to do. And a man who does things like that must not become president of the United States."
He said Trump’s tax cuts would be a boon to the rich and unravel the economy for others.
“You would think that if you were worth $10 billion, you might kinda say, ‘That’s OK, I don’t need more. I don’t need more tax breaks. I don’t need to destroy Social Security and Medicare and Pell grants.’ But that’s what these guys want. They want it all. And what this campaign is really about is whether they get it all."
And he said Clinton has backed policies – from college aid to healthcare --that are key to America’s future.
“We worked together to expand community health centers so that millions of people will be able to get healthcare and dental care, and mental health counseling, a very important issue. (APPLAUSE)” :13
Andrew Barry is 18 and will be voting in his first presidential election. He acknowledged many millennials have trouble relating to Clinton in a way they never did with Sanders. He says the problem may be a clash of personality and culture …
“She’s more of a private person I’ve heard and I just don’t think millennials like that because now everyone has everything, you’re so open in social media."
Outside, a few protesters showed up to push votes for the Green Party’s Jill Stein or for Sanders to get back in the presidential race. Sanders also spoke to about 500 people at the Kent State rec center, telling them millennials cannot afford to sit this election out.
