February 19, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Four years after a bitter rivalry with Hillary Clinton for the Democrat presidential nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he will once again run for the opportunity to challenge Donald Trump.
Sanders, an avowed socialist and registered Independent who caucuses with Democrats, made the announcement on Vermont Public Radio, promising to carry “belief in justice, in community, in grassroots politics, in town meetings (…) all over this country.”
“I think the current occupant of the White House is an embarrassment to our country,” Sanders declared, calling Trump a “pathological liar,” a “racist, a sexist, a homophobe,” and a “xenophobe.”
In a subsequent announcement video, Sanders said his campaign was about (among other things) transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial, and environmental justice;” and “redoubling our efforts to end racism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and all forms of discrimination.
“I'm running for president because a great nation is judged not by how many billionaires and nuclear weapons it has, but by how it treats the most vulnerable: the elderly, the children, our veterans, the sick, and the poor,” he went on. “I'm running for president because we need to make policy decisions based on science, not politics.”
These declarations are ironic in light of Sanders’ uncompromising pro-abortion record. His congressional voting record consistently scores 100 percent with Planned Parenthood and NARAL; he has co-sponsored radical legislation such as the Freedom of Choice Act and Women’s Health Protection Act, which would forbid states from enacting even modest pro-life measures; and he has accused pro-life Americans of perpetrating a “war against women.”
Sanders has also advocated going much further than other pro-abortion politicians in several ways. In 2016, he promised that his judicial nominees would not only uphold Roe v. Wade but also “recognize the rights of women to have access to family planning services” — i.e., forcing private employers to cover potentially abortion-inducing drugs. He also threatened that he would “use the Department of Justice to go after those states” that restrict abortion “in every way that I legally can.”
The following year, Sanders (who was raised Jewish but identifies with no specific religion) berated Russell Vought, Trump’s nominee for Deputy Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, over whether he believed Muslims can get into heaven while rejecting Jesus Christ. Vought defended the “centrality of Jesus Christ in salvation” while affirming that “all individuals are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect regardless of their religious beliefs,” yet Sanders chided him for not being “respectful of other religions.”
Last year, 23-month-old Alfie Evans died after being removed from a ventilator in a battle between his parents’ wishes and a British hospital that refused to let them seek alternative treatment elsewhere. The case drew national attention as a chilling example of conservatives’ case against socialized medicine, but Sanders – a leading proponent of emulating European-style healthcare – refused requests to publicly discuss it.
When Sanders announced his run for the Democratic nomination in April 2015, Sanders trailed Hillary Clinton in the polls by nearly 57 percentage points. By spring of 2016, some polls showed him within single digits,” FiveThirtyEight’s Clare Malone wrote. Clinton ultimately beat him with 2,842 delegates to 1,865, but Sanders was the only Democrat in the 2016 field to detract significantly from Clinton, thanks to his image as a purer, bolder leftist compared to Clinton, which some liberals saw as too establishmentarian.
This time around he enters a Democrat primary field that includes Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and more, none of whom are clear standard-bearers of Clinton’s stature. Sanders consistently performs ahead of his 2020 competitors in primary polls, but still behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who is reportedly seriously considering a run.