Former senator, Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has taken a swing at self-described democratic socialist candidate Bernie Sanders over his record in Congress.
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, the former investment banker said he was recently “asked why @BernieSanders is so angry,” and that “the answer is simple: 28 years in Congress and never able to pass even a scintilla of his socialist agenda.”
Asked why @BernieSanders is so angry, the answer is simple: 28 years in Congress and never able to pass even a scintilla of his socialist agenda. All hat, no cattle.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) 31 июля 2019 г.
Sanders soon responded, saying the reason he was “angry” was “because multi-millionaires like [Romney] and Trump have rigged our economy at the middle class’ expense.”
I'm angry because multi-millionaires like you and Trump have rigged our economy at the middle class' expense.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) 31 июля 2019 г.
I'm angry because millions are living paycheck to paycheck.
I'm angry because 34 million Americans are uninsured.
Why doesn't that anger you? https://t.co/bhpn8Kgb9T
“I’m angry because millions are living paycheck to paycheck. I’m angry because 34 million Americans are uninsured. Why doesn’t that anger you?” Sanders asked.
Sanders, 77, was elected one of Vermont's two senators in 2007. Before that, between 1991 and 2007, he served as a member of the House of Representatives from Vermont. As an independent, the self-described democratic socialist has enjoyed little support from his colleagues for most of the legislation he has put forward, with only two minor bills which he sponsored becoming law, including a 2013 cost-of-living adjustment bill for veterans.
Sanders has nevertheless expressed pride in his record, recalling his votes against resolutions authorizing the use of force in Iraq in 1991 and 2002, marking his opposition to the Patriot Act after 9/11, and getting into repeated scuffles with former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan over his monetary policy ahead of the 2008 banking crisis.
Romney, who was defeated by Barack Obama in 2012, has previously predicted that President Donald Trump would coast to an easy victory in 2020, saying the Democrats would likely nominate a candidate like Sanders who were "out of the mainstream," handing Trump a second term.