Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would have done what Hillary Clinton failed to do, defeat President Donald Trump, Sanders' wife says, "because American people wanted change" and Clinton "was the wrong candidate at the time."
"I think he would have won," Jane Sanders told The Irish Times of her husband, who was rejected by Clinton's Democratic Party. "I have very little doubt he would have won, because American people wanted change, and they weren’t willing to vote for the status quo."
Jane Sanders added "it's unfortunate" Clinton has used Bernie Sanders as a scapegoat for her loss.
"I don't think Bernie stood in the way, as I think she would have lost to Trump anyway, not because she should have, but because she was the wrong candidate at the time," Jane Sanders told the Times.
Voters were ready to reject a "third term for Barack Obama," which is what Clinton represented and Bernie Sanders did not, Jane Sanders added.
"[The] sense that the Clinton campaign was a third term for Barack Obama — there is nothing wrong with that, but that's not what they wanted at that time, and that's not what they want now," Jane Sanders added to the Times.
"I think the American people, through the healthy exchange of ideas, understood that they could do better as a country, in terms of healthcare, affordable education, affordable housing. Bernie was the candidate for change, Trump was the candidate for change, and Secretary Clinton was the candidate for keeping steady on the path. That was not what the American people were looking for."
Jane Sanders expressed further disappointment in Clinton's post-election criticism of her husband.
"The one thing that does bother me, considering how hard he worked in having her win the election, are the untruths — Hillary's claim that she didn't get the same respect from her opponent as she gave to Barack Obama," Janes Sanders said, per the Times. "During the convention we went to every event — each state that we won held a breakfast – because Bernie felt so strongly that Donald Trump could not become president."