‘Enough!’: Sanders calls on Democrats to stop infighting and back Biden

Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the most prominent progressives on the Hill, threw his unequivocal support behind President Joe Biden’s embattled reelection campaign on Saturday and called for Democrats to “stop the bickering” and unify behind Biden as their 2024 nominee.

In an op-ed published in The New York Times , the Vermont independent and Biden’s erstwhile primary opponent bashed both the media and Democrats for participating in a “circular firing squad” and pledged to continue supporting the president in his bid for reelection.

“Enough!” Sanders wrote, chastising Democrats. “It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking.”

While he acknowledged that Biden “may not be the ideal candidate,” Sanders wrote that, unlike with the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, Democrats “do not have to explain away” a litany of issues for their potential pick, citing the former president’s 34 felony convictions , thousands of lawsuits and “ documented lies and falsehoods .”

Sanders also noted his “strong” disagreements with the president over certain policies, including providing weapons to Israel during its deadly offensive in Gaza and failing to institute a “Medicare-for-All” health care system. But the independent ultimately lauded Biden’s record while in office, citing the president’s Covid-19 response plan, economic recovery, infrastructure investments and advancement of health care and climate policy.

Addressing a recent wave of Democratic concerns over Biden’s political stamina after his recent debate debacle with Trump, Sanders contended that — running on a campaign that “speaks to the needs of working families” — Biden will beat Trump “badly.”

The question of Biden’s electability has dominated discourse — both among the “ chattering class ” and within the Democratic Party itself, as a growing number of Democrats have called on Biden to remove himself from the race while others have expressed doubts about his ability to beat Trump again in 2024.

The specter of a second Trump presidency — reinforced by fears that a Trump White House would be influenced by extreme conservative policies outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 — looms large for Democrats as they plot their best path toward securing the White House this November.

While some centrist Democrats who have been staunch supporters of Biden until his debate performance last month have called on him to step aside amid concerns that he won’t be able to lead the party to victory, other more progressive members who have historically butted heads with the president — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other members of the “Squad” — have come out in support of Biden’s reelection.

Invoking France’s eleventh-hour defeat of the far-right National Rally in last Sunday’s election, Sanders called on the Hill’s progressive and centrist factions to “learn a lesson” from the French left-wing alliance and unite against Trump.

“For the sake of our kids and future generations, [Biden] must win,” Sanders wrote.