Longtime environmental and consumer protection activist Ralph Nader warned Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders that their feud over whether Sanders made a sexist remark will only benefit their common rival in the Democratic presidential field.
“It doesn’t help the progressive cause for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to be squabbling,” Nader, 85, tweeted Tuesday. “The Democratic Party corporatists want nothing more than divide and rule, so that their candidate Joe Biden reaps the benefits.”
Warren, a Massachusetts senator, on Monday accused Sanders, 78, of saying in a private December 2018 that a woman could not win the presidency in 2020.
“Among the topics that came up was what would happen if Democrats nominated a female candidate. I thought a woman could win; he disagreed,” Warren, 70, said in a statement Monday, confirming earlier reports. Sanders, a Vermont senator, has denied that he made the statement.
Nader was the Green Party’s nominee for president in 2000 and received nearly 3% of the popular vote. Some blame his third-party run for splitting liberal support and costing Democratic nominee Al Gore votes in the razor-thin election that ended with Republican George W. Bush in the White House.
It doesn’t help the progressive cause for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to be squabbling. The Democratic Party corporatists want nothing more than divide and rule, so that their candidate Joe Biden reaps the benefits. -R
— Ralph Nader (@RalphNader) January 14, 2020
Democratic presidential candidates entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have also weighed in on the dispute, with Yang calling the fight “upsetting” and Gabbard saying that Sanders “showed me the greatest respect” in a meeting before she announced her presidential bid.
