On Wednesday, a man apparently on the same flight as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted out a photo of the socialist looking “nervous” while sitting in first class.
“A nervous democratic socialist in first class,” a man named Hank Thomas captioned the photo, adding the hashtag, “#FeelTheBern.”
A nervous democratic socialist in first class. #FeelTheBern pic.twitter.com/XbONXNBZNn
— Hank Thomas (@HankThomasDC) February 13, 2020
Providing context (and evidence) for his shot, Thomas followed-up the tweet with a photo of the Embraer ERJ-175’s first class seating arrangement.
“Here is a pic of American Eagle first class on an Embraer ERJ-175. Much less interesting when unoccupied,” he said, adding a link to layout of the plane’s seating, which can be accessed here.
Here is a pic of American Eagle first class on an Embraer ERJ-175. Much less interesting when unoccupied. Link to seat map: https://t.co/P1DDzxHpNN pic.twitter.com/5H68z207KV
— Hank Thomas (@HankThomasDC) February 13, 2020
The jarring photo of Sen. Sanders, a man who honeymooned in the Soviet Union and consistently advocates socialist policies, riding in first class accommodations predictably went viral. The tweet racked up nearly 30,000 likes and over 12,000 comments in less than 24 hours.
While there once was a time the media could praise Sanders for traveling coach, (CNN ran the glowing headline in 2015: Sanders flies coach, social media says he’s first class), that is certainly not the case anymore.
Earlier this month, The Daily Wire noted that Sanders, the Democrat Party’s presidential frontrunner, spent a whopping $1.2 million on private jet travel in just three months, from October to December of 2019.
“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is campaigning to be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee on a progressive, socialist agenda, but his campaign’s spending is more in line with the ‘one percent’ than the working class,” The Daily Wire noted. “The Washington Free Beacon reports that Sanders’ campaign spent an astounding $1.2 million on private jets during the last quarter of 2019 — more, even, than former Vice President Joe Biden and billionaire presidential candidate, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.”
“Sanders’ Federal Election Commission filings reveal that the ‘Democratic socialist’ shelled out $1,199,579 to Apollo Jets, LLC, a ‘luxury private jet charter service,’ per the Free Beacon, even though his own campaign views private air travel as one of the top contributors to climate change (and as a luxury of the rich, to boot). The campaign paid an additional $23,941 to a Virginia-based private pilot service,” the report continued.
Sanders outspent all other Democratic candidates in the field on private jet travel, including even billionaire Mike Bloomberg, according to The Washington Free Beacon:
“An analysis of private jet spending in filings from other top candidates found that Elizabeth Warren’s campaign spent $720,518 and Pete Buttigieg’s campaign spent $323,518. Michael Bloomberg, who pumped a whopping $200 million of his personal fortune into his campaign’s opening weeks, spent about $646,000 on private jet travel, about half of what Sanders spent.”
Sanders won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, on the heels of a strong showing in Iowa, The Daily Wire reported.
“Let me say tonight that this victory here is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump,” the socialist said in his acceptance speech. “No matter who wins, and we certainly hope it’s going to be us, we’re going to unite together. We are going to unite together and defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country.”