Late last month, the Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon made an appearance on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes to discuss her preferred presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders. During their chat, Hayes asked Sarandon about “Bernie or Bust”—the belief, in Hayes’s words, 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 replied, “Yeah but [Hillary] doesn’t. She accepted money for all of those people. She doesn’t even 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 then posed the question to Sarandon, asking whether she’d vote for Hillary if she wins the Democratic nomination. “I don’t know. I’m going to see what happens,” Sarandon said.
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“Really?” asked Hayes.“Really,” Sarandon said, adding that “some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately if he gets in, things will really explode.”Some construed the strange, fairly nebulous statement as Sarandon insinuating that she’d support Trump over Hillary, provided they were the two nominees.On Friday night’s edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, Sarandon was the guest of honor. Promoting her film The Meddler, Maher quipped, “You’re also The Meddler in politics,” before mentioning the recent appearance.
“Some of the liberals got mad at you because you said if it’s not Bernie, that you don’t know if you’d even vote for Hillary,” he added. “You said maybe Trump would be better because he’d bring on the revolution.” “Well, some of the liberals didn’t read the article or see the interview, they just looked at these misleading headlines that The Daily Beast, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Hill put up there saying that I supported Trump, but if you read it or you saw it, I did not say that,” she said. “So, you will vote for Hillary if it’s not Bernie?” Maher asked.
“I’m not even admitting that she’s going to get the nomination,” Sarandon replied. “I’m not going there, no.”
Maher pressed her further: “I have also been saying that if the airline cannot board your first choice, eat the chicken. That should be Hillary’s slogan: Eat the Chicken. Are you going to eat the chicken?” “I’m a vegetarian,” said Sarandon.
“I mean, the environment—great example. Hillary has an 82 percent voter rating from the [League of Conservation Voters]. Ted Cruz has 5! That’s your choice in this world!” Maher continued. “I don’t care [about] the [League of Conservation Voters],” said Sarandon. “She’s been selling fracking all over Jersey.” “Yes, she’s not perfect, but perfect is not on the menu!” fired back a frustrated Maher.
“Well, I’m not gonna say—I think Bernie Sanders is gonna get the nomination. Don’t burst my bubble!” she replied. “Those words cannot come out of my mouth at this point.”
Maher then mentioned how, in 2002, both of them supported Ralph Nader for POTUS, and how Nader “cost Gore the election.”“But he was a third-party candidate. That was a very specific thing. [Bernie] is actually a miracle,” she said. “You see when you go around the United States, [Bernie] has really spoken to people—the way that Trump has, except instead of picking on people and putting up walls and persecuting people, he’s saying everyone comes together. But it’s the same discontent, it’s the same need for authenticity, it’s the same disrespect for the establishment, and that is a very real thing that’s going on now. And that’s exciting because he’s activated people who I think will vote in the mid-term elections. That’s part of his thing—he’s saying it doesn’t end here. No matter what happens, you have to get out there and vote.”“Well, Obama said that and they didn’t show up in 2010, and they didn’t show up in 2014,” Maher interjected. “I don’t think [Obama] followed through. I don’t think he did. I didn’t hear anything after he got in. I think he left the grassroots on the lawn of the White House,” said Sarandon.“Wow,” Maher replied, apparently at a loss for words.“Plus, you know, he’s put in jail more whistleblowers. He’s not had a good record on a lot of things that people care about,” continued Sarandon, before correcting her course a bit, saying sarcastically, “He’s done wonderful things, I agree. He has done wonderful things. I’m not attacking Obama, for the record.”
