Bernie Sanders said after meeting with President Obama Thursday that he will stay in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination through next week’s D.C. primary, but dropped hints that he’s getting ready to help Democrats elect Hillary Clinton as president.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Sanders said Trump would be “a disaster as president of the United States.” Sanders also congratulated Clinton on her strong campaign and said he will meet her in the “near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump.”
“It is unbelievable to me, and I say this in all sincerity, that the Republican Party would have a candidate for president who, in the year 2016, makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign,” Sanders said. “In my view, the American people will not vote for or tolerate a candidate who insults Mexicans and Latinos, who insults Muslims, who insults African-Americans and women.”
“Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States,” he said.
Sanders’ remarks were much softer than his earlier promise to keep fighting for the nomination into and possibly past the Democratic convention in July. Outside the White House, Sanders only promised to take “issues” to the convention, and made no mention of putting up a fight there.
While his meeting at the White House was widely interpreted as a sign that Obama was going to encourage Sanders to exit the race for the sake of party unity, Sanders said he would “of course” be competing in D.C., and will make the case for District statehood during his campaign swing. He also thanked Obama and Sanders for remaining neutral in the race.
Obama has not yet endorsed Clinton, and told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Wednesday that Sanders has made the Democratic Party healthier by forcing a contested primary, although he spoke about Sanders’ candidacy in the past tense.
“I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas,” Obama told Fallon. “He pushed the party and challenged them. I thought it made Hillary a better candidate.”
