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Sanders Vows to Help Clinton DefeatTrump, but Keeps Campaign Alive | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders holds a rally at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington March 25, 2016. REUTERS/David Ryder – RTSCAI8


Bernie Sanders vowed on Thursday to give a hand to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in order to defeat Republican Donald Trump in the Nov. 8 election, however Sanders did not officially pull out of the race for the White House.

“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly, and I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time,” the U.S. senator from Vermont said.

“I also look forward to working with Secretary Clinton to transform the Democratic Party so that it becomes a party of working people and young people, and not just wealthy campaign contributors,” he said in a speech broadcast from his hometown of Burlington, Vermont.

“Defeating Donald Trump cannot be our only goal. We must continue our grassroots efforts to create the America that we know we can become,” he said. “And we must take that energy into the Democratic National Convention on July 25 in Philadelphia where we will have more than 1,900 delegates.”

One of the reasons why Sanders has kept his campaign alive was to use it as power to force concessions from Clinton on his policy goals during debates on the party’s issues platform.

Sanders, who met with Clinton on Tuesday night after the nominating process ended, said he would continue his discussions with her campaign to make certain “the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history, and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda.”

“Our vision for the future of this country is not some kind of fringe idea. It is not a radical idea. It is mainstream. It is what millions of Americans believe in and want to see happen,” Sanders said.