On Wednesday, democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) finally threw in the towel and suspended his campaign, and President Trump suggests there’s one particular person to thank for his demise — and a bunch of other folks in the party he was hoping to lead that are celebrating.
Shortly after informing his campaign staff of his decision in a call, the Vermont senator announced the suspension of his campaign in a livestream Wednesday. “I wish I could give you better news, but I think you know the truth, and that is that we are now some 300 delegates behind Vice President Biden, and the path toward victory is virtually impossible,” said Sanders, as reported by CNN. “So while we are winning the ideological battle and while we are winning the support of so many young people and working people throughout the country, I have concluded that this battle for the Democratic nomination will not be successful. And so today I am announcing the suspension of my campaign.”
After starting off the primary season with a bang, taking the lead, or close to it, in each of the first three primaries — a development that sent shockwaves through presumptive nominee Joe Biden’s suddenly imploding campaign — Sanders saw his prospects dramatically darken after moderates rushed to Biden’s rescue and helped the former vice president blow Sanders out in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday.
While Biden’s the big winner here, the person most to blame for the democratic socialist’s downfall, Trump suggested in a tweet Wednesday, is Sanders’ fellow far-left senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
“Bernie Sanders is OUT!” Trump tweeted. “Thank you to Elizabeth Warren. If not for her, Bernie would have won almost every state on Super Tuesday!”
Though he suggested that Warren deserved most of the credit for Sanders’ second presidential failure, in the end, Trump suggested, it was the Democratic establishment that torpedoed his campaign.
“This ended just like the Democrats [and] the DNC wanted, same as the Crooked Hillary fiasco,” Trump said, referencing complaints that the Democratic National Committee “rigged” the nomination process in favor of Hillary Clinton in 2016. “The Bernie people should come to the Republican Party, TRADE!”
In a follow-up post, Trump expressed surprise that Sanders wasn’t immediately giving his delegates to Biden. “Wow, Bernie is unwilling to give up his delegates, and wants more of them!” Trump wrote. “What’s that all about?”
Bernie Sanders is OUT! Thank you to Elizabeth Warren. If not for her, Bernie would have won almost every state on Super Tuesday! This ended just like the Democrats & the DNC wanted, same as the Crooked Hillary fiasco. The Bernie people should come to the Republican Party, TRADE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
Wow, Bernie is unwilling to give up his delegates, and wants more of them! What’s that all about?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
As The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti wrote Wednesday, Sanders’ delegate game is likely about trying to gain more influence in the party. “Sanders has not said, yet, whether he intends to redistribute his 897 delegates to Joe Biden, who currently has 1,208,” wrote Zanotti. “More than likely, he will retain the support in order to press for greater influence over the Democratic Party’s platform, which will undergo a major makeover at the convention in August.”
One of the big signs that Sanders was truly out of the contest, Zanotti notes, came in late March, when his most prominent far-left surrogate, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), broke with the campaign and declared a need to solidify around the presumptive nominee. Meanwhile, as CNN reported, “Sanders fundraising machine, the most successful grassroots donor effort in American political history, was over the last month repurposed into a feeder for public health groups.”
Related: WATCH: Trump Discusses ‘Two Concepts’ For Reopening Economy