Promoting her endorsement of socialist Bernie Sanders on the Monday edition of MSNBC’s All In, liberal actress Susan Sarandon proclaimed that she’s backing Sanders because she “really want[s] to be on the right side of history” and not with Hillary Clinton or anyone who’s “tak[en] any money from fracking or Monsanto or, you know Super PACs or Wall Street or big farm.”
First asked by host Chris Hayes about what she’s gained from traveling across the country as a campaign surrogate, Sarandon admitted that she’s amassed “[s]o much hope and so much connection” with middle America “that I haven’t seen” before.
Sarandon complimented many of Sanders’s supporters for being “independent thinkers” who “want to be engaged again after not having anyone really that they trusted or spoke to them” before and seeing the growth of the Sanders campaign from almost no security to the Vermont senator now having a Secret Service detail.
Above all, however, she chalked her backing of Sanders up to a desire to be “the right side of history” with the 2016 candidate who, in her eyes, is “morally consistent”:
I really want to be on the right side of history and this is a shot we're not going to have in my lifetime to have a candidate that's so morally consistent, makes decisions, whose judgment proves to be true but does it at a time when it's not popular, when it’s not comfortable. A candidate who’s not taking any money from fracking or Monsanto or, you know Super PACs or Wall Street or big farm which all the other candidates have.
Hayes admitted that he found her answer “interesting” and moved onto inquiring about the uneasiness some Sanders supporters have about Hillary Clinton and whether that could affect their chances of turning out in November if/when she secures the Democratic nomination.
Sarandon ruled that it’s “a legitimate concern because they’re very passionate and principled” as opposed to Clinton and predicted that some would indeed stay home in November:
I talk to people who want to — I talk to Republicans who have written him [Sanders] in already. You know, and they just feel like she's not authentic. She's a liar, that they don't trust her so what difference does it make. You know, if you're a small farmer and worried about fracking on your property, in Idaho they just passed a bill where they can frack on private land and you know she’s taken money from fracking. Why would you think that she’s going to have your back?
Following another mini-rant about Monsanto and fracking, she concluded with far-left revolutionary rhetoric that included a nod to Michael Moore plus how upset she’s been with Clinton invoking former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger:
The status quo is not working and I think it’s dangerous to think that we can continue the way we are with the militarized police force, with privatized prisons, with the death penalty with the low minimum wage, wit threats to women's rights and think that you can't do something huge to turn that around because the country is not in good shape. If you're in the middle class, it's disappearing and you look, if I you want to see Michael Moore's documentary, it's pretty funny the way they describe it, but you'll see that health care, you know, and education in all these other countries, we've been told it's impossible...We have to stop prioritizing war and I don't like the fact she talks about Henry Kissinger as being her, you know, go to guy for the stuff that's happened in Libya and other things I don't think it's good.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes on March 28 can be found below.
MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes
March 28, 2016
8:31 p.m. EasternCHRIS HAYES: So, you’ve been on the campaign with Bernie Sanders quite a bite. A bunch of states. I’m always curious. What you feel like — what do you get from that?
SUSAN SARANDON: Oh, wow. So much hope and so much connection with an America that I haven't seen. I mean, I've driven across country a while back and I’ve, you know, worked in Iowa but to actually have the opportunity to talk to people and so moved by their passion and there's a lot of independent thinkers in the middle of this country and to see them give their time and their passion and be so vulnerable that way to want to be engaged again after not having anyone really that they trusted or spoke to them and see thousands upon thousands of people turn out and also thousands of volunteers from other places and to visit those little offices and to introduce him in the beginning when he didn't have any security whatsoever and, you know, now there's also these guys, Secret Service traveling with him and everything, but I really want to be on the right side of history and this is a shot we're not going to have in my lifetime to have a candidate that's so morally consistent, makes decisions, whose judgment proves to be true but does it at a time when it's not popular, when it’s not comfortable. A candidate who’s not taking any money from fracking or Monsanto or, you know Super PACs or Wall Street or big farm which all the other candidates have. Those are issues that are really important to me, so to have a guy that's that consistent that is that clean, it's not going to happen again.
HAYES: You just said on the right side of history, which is interesting to me. I think, in certain quarters, there's growing concern that the folks that are into Bernie Sanders have come to despise Hillary Clinton or reject Hillary Clinton and that should she be the nominee which is as yet undetermined, they will walk away.
SARANDON: That's a legitimate concern because they’re very passionate and principled.
HAYES: Isn't that crazy? If you believe in what he believes in.
SARANDON: Yeah but she doesn't. She accepted money for all of those people. She doesn't want to fight for a $15 minimum wage, so these are people that have not come out before, so why would we think they’re going to come out now for her, you know —
HAYES: You really that?
SARANDON: I think there's a good possibility. I talk to people who want to — I talk to Republicans who have written him already. You know, and they just feel like she's not authentic. She's a liar, that they don't trust her so what difference does it make. You know, if you're a small farmer and worried about fracking on your property, in Idaho they just passed a bill where they can frack on private land and you know she’s taken money from fracking. Why would you think that she’s going to have your back?
HAYES: Well, they make the argument that there are all kinds of politicians — Barack Obama is the one that Hillary Clinton cites all the time who have done things to effectively rein industries or reform industries that they’ve taken money from.
SARANDON: I’d like to — I’d like to see that.
HAYES: You don’t buy that?
SARANDON: No, I don't buy it at all because she’s been selling fracking all over the world. There’s her talking about Monsanto and how clean and not clean they’re talking Round-Up or what they put in it or what it’s doing to economy and they know that jobs are going out. You know, Bernie doesn’t — voted against NAFTA, TPP, or all these things coming up that they know affect their jobs and she's not on the right side of that. She hasn't voted right, so what would you make think once she gets in, she’s going to suddenly go against the people that have given her millions and millions of dollars. I think that's being incredibly naive and egotistic to think she will see the right, you know.
(....)
SARANDON: I think what's going on now. If you think it's pragmatic to sure up the status quo right now, then you’re in touch with the status quo. The status quo is not working and I think it’s dangerous to think that we can continue the way we are with the militarized police force, with privatized prisons, with the death penalty with the low minimum wage, wit threats to women's rights and think that you can't do something huge to turn that around because the country is not in good shape. If you're in the middle class, it's disappearing and you look, if I you want to see Michael Moore's documentary, it's pretty funny the way they describe it, but you'll see that health care, you know, and education in all these other countries, we've been told it's impossible. It's like we've been in this bad relationship and now we have to break up with the guy because we realize we're worth it. We should have these things. We have to stop prioritizing war and I don't like the fact she talks about Henry Kissinger as being her, you know, go to guy for the stuff that's happened in Libya and other things I don't think it's good.
