Bernie Sanders may not come out and say it directly—but he wants you to know that Hillary Clinton can't be trusted.
The fight to win the Democratic nomination increasingly looks like an uphill battle for the Vermont senator and self-described Democratic socialist. So Sanders is trying to convince voters he’s the best choice to sit atop the Democratic ticket by drawing a sharp contrast with his White House rival. Sanders has long suggested he’s more trustworthy, and therefore a better candidate, than Clinton. To make that case, he has highlighted her ties to Wall Street and described his track record as more consistently progressive. Now, Sanders is putting a finer point on that argument by doubling down on a critique of his competitor and promising to keep it up.
On Monday, Sanders stressed his opposition to big money in politics and trade deals he believes benefit corporations at the expense of workers during a speech in Boston, and took pains to paint Clinton as his opposite on both counts. The speech sent a clear message. To hear Sanders tell it, he’s the candidate who can be trusted to protect the American middle class, while Clinton cozies up to wealthy elites. “The people of the United States need to know the difference between hastily-adopted campaign rhetoric, and the real record and long held ideas of the candidates,” Sanders said at the event, promising that he will continue to “contrast my record to Secretary Clinton’s” in the weeks to come.