Bernie Sanders didn't back away from being called a Democratic Socialist at the Democratic Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday. #DemocraticDebate

“We are living in many ways in a socialist society right now," he said. "When Trump gets $800 million in tax breaks, that’s socialism for the rich. I believe in Democratic socialism for working people, not billionaires.”

Sanders faced questions about whether his progressive policies are too extreme for a general-election campaign. There’s rising concern within the party establishment that the self-described democratic socialist won’t be able to defeat Trump and could be a drag on Democratic candidates running for lower offices.

The candidates sparred over capitalism after the moderators asked Klobuchar to respond to a tweet from Sanders that said billionaires shouldn’t exist.

“I believe in capitalism but the goal of someone in government and the president of the United States should be a check on that,” Klobuchar said, before criticizing the tax code for favoring the wealthy and the rich.

Sanders used his comment as an opportunity to criticize Bloomberg.

“We have a grotesque and immoral distribution of wealth and income,” Sanders said. “Mike Bloomberg owns more wealth than the bottom 125 million Americans. That’s wrong and that’s immoral.”

Bloomberg said he can’t speak for all billionaires, but that he’s been lucky, he’s made a lot of money and given a lot away -- “and a lot of it has gone to the Democratic Party.”

He said he had no apologies having built a fortune and warned that the debate was veering in a direction that would turn voters away.

“I can’t think of a way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get re-elected than listening to this conversation. It’s ridiculous,” Bloomberg said. “We’re not going to throw out capitalism. We tried that, other countries tried that. It’s called communism, and it just didn’t work.”

Many voters were seeing Bloomberg live for the first time instead of in an ad on television or on social media. Those ads, paid for with Bloomberg’s personal fortune, have fueled a rise in polls.

Those polling numbers -- he was in a tight third place at 14% to Sanders’ 32% and Joe Biden’s 16% in a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday -- qualified him to join five of his Democratic rivals for the ninth debate of the primary season, sponsored by NBC and the Nevada Independent.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: [ Ссылка ]

QUICKTAKE ON SOCIAL:
Follow QuickTake on Twitter: twitter.com/quicktake
Like QuickTake on Facebook: facebook.com/quicktake
Follow QuickTake on Instagram: instagram.com/quicktake
Subscribe to our newsletter: [ Ссылка ]
Email us at quicktakenews@gmail.com

QuickTake by Bloomberg is a global news network delivering up-to-the-minute analysis on the biggest news, trends and ideas for a new generation of leaders.

свернуть