Accusing the media of “getting it all wrong” after Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton for the U.S. presidency in 2016, former Vice President Joe Biden said the real lesson of that year’s result—which progressives at the time declared as “unutterably horrifying”—was not that Democrats overall shifted to the left but that most remain enamored with the kind of moderate, corporate-friendly policies that Clinton exemplified as opposed to the kind of inspiring, progressive vision championed by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren or the newer generation of elected lawmakers such Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“It’s just bad judgment,” Biden explained to journalist Mike Allen in a clip released Friday morning of an interview scheduled to air in full on “Axios on HBO” Sunday night.
“You all thought that what happened was the party moved extremely to the left after Hillary—AOC was a new party,” said Biden. “She’s a bright, wonderful person. But where’s the party? Come on, man.”
Asked specifically about Medicare for All, Biden said that while his more progressive rivals Sanders and Warren support it, “The party’s not there. The party’s not there at all.”
Watch the clip:
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