Though he said the word "ending" nearly a dozen times, Senator Sanders did not end his campaign for the presidency during a special announcement to supporters on Thursday evening. But sitting alone in what looked like a closet covered in Bernie-themed wallpaper, he did say several things that made it SEEM as if he were ABOUT to MAYBE make that decision in the near future.
He thanked canvassers, door-knockers, phone-callers. He listed his campaign's achievements, including the fact that his team won several states during the primary season despite the fact that "the media" dismissed his campaign as "fringe" and "radical." He countered that narrative, saying that his wins suggest his ideas are not fringe or radical but mainstream.
He listed a cascade of things we must fight to end, including but not limited to:
⢠Citizens United
⢠"Grotesque levels of income inequality"
⢠The disgrace of Native Americans having a low life expectancy, citing those who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota specifically
⢠Poverty and the disgrace of childhood poverty
⢠Failing public schools
⢠The disgrace of thousands of Americans dying from preventable deaths because they lack health insurance
⢠The disgrace of polluted water in Flint and other cities
⢠The disgrace of increasing homelessness
⢠The disgrace of corporate welfare
⢠TPP
⢠Fracking
⢠Cuts to Social Security
He said we must ban assault weapons, close the gun show loophole, and require instant background checks. He said we must fight for a woman's right to control her own body. He said we must close the pay gap, raise the federal minimum wage to $15, protect gay marriage, make state college tuition free, pass "modern-day Glass-Steagall legislation," and pass immigration and criminal justice reform.
If you have ever heard Bernie stump in public before, you have heard a similar list. I agree with every single item on it.
He said he'd met with Secretary Clinton the other day and that he looked forward to working with her to transform the Democratic party into a party of "young and working people."
He said the major priority for the Democratic party now is to make sure Donald Trump is defeated "badly," and that he "personally plan[s] to begin [his] role in that process in a very short period of time."
But instead of saying, "And by 'begin my role' I mean I'm dropping out," he encouraged his supporters to run for state and local office.
"We need new blood in the state political offices, and you are that new blood,â he said.
He suggested that Bernie supporters who have no desire to run for office should become doctors, teachers, childcare workers, conscientious businesspeople "who respect employees and the environment," and well-trained construction workers, especially in places where those services are most needed.
Finally, he ended on a reflective note. When historians look back on this election, he said he hopes they will cite the 2016 political revolution as a moment when the US "[reversed] the drift toward oligarchy."
Above all, he's going to continue the fight "tomorrow, next week, next year, and into the future."
