12. More taxes – Much has been made of Sanders’ aim to introduce taxes on Wall Street stock transactions and raise them for millionaires (with a net worth exceeding $32m). His critics say that’s a bit rich, considering Sanders himself is worth $2.5m, according to Forbes. But the candidate also acknowledges planning to raise taxes for working families in order to fund Medicare for All. However much extra the federal government deducts from Americans’ payroll, he argues, would be more than offset by their health-cost savings.
13. Anti-war – “The American people are sick and tired of endless wars, which have cost us trillions of dollars,” Sanders said during a TV debate in Iowa in January. It’s a sentiment President Trump has often echoed. But unlike Trump, Sanders was against the US invasion of Iraq from the outset back in 2002. Sanders stands by that decision today, calling the conflict the “worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country”.
14. Personal style is a waste of time – Sanders’ wife, Jane O’Meara, once quipped, external that if her husband has “seven sweaters, that’s three too many for him”. When questioned about his frequently-rumpled coiffure, Sanders was brusque, external: “The media will very often spend more time worrying about hair than the fact that we’re the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee healthcare to all people.”
15. Call me Bernie – While campaigning in his home state of Vermont, Sanders’ bumper stickers said simply “Bernie”. “You have to reach a certain exulted [sic] status in politics to be referred to only by your first name,” Senator Patrick Leahy told the New York Times in 2007, external.
16. Sometimes, dictators can do good things – Sanders told CBS in February it would be “unfair” to say “everything is bad” about Cuba’s communist revolution. Critics then brought up how as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, in 1985, Sanders praised Nicaraguan left-wing Sandinistas strongman Daniel Ortega as “an impressive guy”, downplaying reports of rights abuses there. Sanders’ fans are sometimes dubbed “Sandernistas”.
17. Break up Big Tech – “These corporate giants control too much,” Sanders has said of tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google. Like rival Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren, he wants to break up the firms’ “monopoly” and subject them to anti-trust enforcement.
18. Critical of Israel – but also “very proud of being Jewish”, he has said. At a Democratic debate Sanders said: “Sadly, tragically, Israel has a reactionary racist who is now running that country.” In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not intervene in the US election. Sanders would be the first Jewish US president if victorious.
