Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have turned the Democratic primary into a contest to find out who is more socialist, according to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.
Scalise argued that any Republican nominee will be able to unite the party because the Democratic candidates “will be fighting over who is more socialist, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton,” Scalise told reporters at the GOP retreat. “And our country is not a socialist nation, and yet you see the [Democrats] — they’re going to produce somebody who is probably more aligned with the socialist policy, and that’s not the direction of America.”
While Sanders proudly identifies as a Democratic socialist, Clinton has shunned the label. Yet the former secretary of state has shifted many of her stances to the left to compete in the primary.
While Clinton is the Democratic front-runner, Sanders has surpassed her in recent polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton also faces scrutiny over her emails and overlap between her work at the Clinton Foundation and the State Department.
“Hillary Clinton still has a trust factor within her own party. She has not been able to close the deal on the Democratic side. In fact, Bernie Sanders seems to be gaining momentum,” Scalise said. “And nobody wants to talk about that — they want to talk about the Republican nominees.”
