Sen. Bernie Sanders, famous for railing against the 1%, told MSNBC he does not like the idea of billionaires entering the 2020 presidential election. The Vermont candidate made his comments after Tom Steyer announced Tuesday that he is running for president.
“Well, you know, I have known Tom for a number of years, and I like Tom personally. But I do have to say as somebody, who in this campaign has received 2 million contributions — averaging, I believe, $19 a person — I’m a bit tired of seeing billionaires trying to buy political power. So I like Tom. He’s a good guy. He’s a friend of mine, but I’m not a great fan of billionaires getting involved in the political process,” Sanders said.
Anchor Andrea Mitchell asked if Steyer should not be taken seriously as a candidate.
“No, I didn’t say that. If you’re a billionaire by definition, you are taken seriously,” Sanders replied. “But I think the American people understand that one of the great problems facing American society today is that we have a billionaire class, which is getting richer and richer, while the working class of this country has been decimated over the past 45 years.”
Sanders said billionaires should not be able to spend unlimited amount of money “trying to buy elections.”
Steyer said he plans on spending $100 million to be the Democratic nominee. He previously told reporters in January that he would not run in the 2020 election.
Steyer started to make a name for himself by starting the Need to Impeach campaign, airing TV ads and hosting events to push for Congress to impeach President Trump. Over 8 million people have signed the group’s petition.
