Bernie Sanders Takes Heat for Flying Private Jets to ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ Rallies
‘No apologies for that,’ the self-avowed democratic socialist tells Fox News.
Senator Sanders is being criticized as a hypocrite for defending his habit of flying private jets to the “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies he and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been holding across America.
The Vermont democratic socialist claims he can’t be in a “waiting line at United” to get to the anti-Trump rallies he’s been holding because it wouldn’t be fair to keep the thousands of attendees at those rallies waiting if he were delayed.
In an interview with Bret Baier on Fox News Wednesday, Mr. Sanders, a longtime critic of fossil fuel companies and a backer of the Green New Deal, said he’s not sorry about flying private. “That’s the only way to get around. No apologies for that. That’s what campaign travel is about. We’ve done it in the past. We’re gonna do it in the future,” he said.
“You run a campaign and you do three or four five rallies in a week, the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people,” Mr. Sanders said. “When’s the last time you saw Donald Trump during a campaign mode at National Airport?”
A conservative activist, Riley Gaines, reacted on X, writing: “The socialist who rails against the wealthy flies private and scoffs at flying commercial — socialism for you, luxury for him.” A conservative influencer, Collin Rugg, was more succinct. “Total scammer,” he posted on X.
The End Wokeness account told its 3.6 million followers: “Socialists are beyond parody.”
Some people are defending the private jet flights. A former presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, said, “Bernie Sanders is 83 and had to be in multiple states in the same day. In that situation you fly private.”
Mr. Sanders’s campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, spent more than $221,000 chartering private jets in the first three months of the year, according to government filings reviewed by Fox News.
A longtime critic of personal and corporate greed, the millionaire has been on the tour to discuss “how we move forward to take on the oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country.” A request on his website suggests donations of up to $1,000 to help fund the tour.
