Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, champion of the working class, and man of the people, has actually become something of a wealthy elitist over the years.
The latest evidence of such are pictures taken Thursday of Sanders flying in the first-class section of an American Airlines flight on his way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to speak at a rally in support of an openly socialist Democratic candidate for Congress, Fox News reported.
A first-class socialist
The photos, taken surreptitiously by another passenger in first-class on that flight and shared exclusively with Fox News, showed a masked-up Sen. Sanders preparing to take his comfortably spacious seat in one of the first rows near the front of the commercial airliner. The outlet noted that a spokesperson for the Vermont senator declined to comment in response to questions about the pictures.
THAT’S RICH: Bernie Sanders flies first class to stump for fellow socialist candidatehttps://t.co/axna2Agx0o
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 13, 2022
“We have a working-class, a middle-class, in this country who are struggling and it’s absolutely imperative we get (people) into Congress who are prepared to stand up and take on powerful special interest and fight for working families,” Sanders reportedly told local media in Pittsburgh about his endorsement of state Rep. Summer Lee.
“I’ve known Summer for several years and Summer believes as I do, that it is totally absurd that you have billionaires in this country, some of the very richest people paying nothing, not a penny in federal income tax,” the self-proclaimed socialist senator, who is himself a millionaire, added. “(All) because you have a rigged tax system that favors the wealthy and large corporations.”
The politician Sanders endorsed is herself a self-proclaimed democratic socialist who often espouses controversial far-left policies, such as abolishing prisons, defunding police, racial reparations, and redistribution of wealth, among other progressive and socialist goals.
If elected to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, Lee would likely align herself with the far-left progressive “Squad” in the House led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and would fit right in with the likes of fellow “Squad”-mates Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Moved up from coach to first-class
This is not the first time that alleged “man of the people” and “working-class hero” Sen. Sanders has been caught on camera enjoying the benefits of his wealth by flying first class, as he was snapped doing exactly that in February 2020 during the Democratic primary cycle before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an article from The Sun at that time.
In the picture taken by a fellow first-class passenger, a ballcap-wearing Sanders, who had just won the New Hampshire primary, was captioned as “A nervous democratic socialist in first class. #FeelTheBern,” by a venture capitalist CEO named Hank Thomas.
Sanders being spotted flying first-class cuts deeply against the carefully crafted narrative established by his supporters and staffers during the 2016 presidential campaign, as laid out in a 2015 CNN article, that Sanders, as the aforementioned “man of the people” and champion of the working-class always flew in the coach section of commercial airliners with all of the other regular folks.
The senator may well have previously flown coach on a routine basis in those days, but times have changed and the self-proclaimed enemy of capitalist wealth has become quite wealthy himself and now appears to be taking advantage of the same sort of perks for those of his fiscal stature that he often rails against.
