Donald Trump finds common cause with Bernie Sanders, argues both candidates are victims of "a crooked system"

Both Trump and Sanders have taken issue with their respective parties’ nomination process

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published April 11, 2016 3:48PM (EDT)

Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders   (Reuters/Chris Keane/Jim Young/Photo montage by Salon)
Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders (Reuters/Chris Keane/Jim Young/Photo montage by Salon)

Back in September, Nate Silver implored political media to stop comparing Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump. Essentially, the polling guru argued, both Sanders and Trump could be described as "outsiders," but that is about where their similarities end. Citing Sanders' substantial policy positions and his career in Congress to argue against labeling the Vermont senator as "anti-establishment" alongside Trump.

But now it appears as though Trump himself is willing to overlook the details to compare his campaign to Sanders' campaign. At a rally in Rochester, NY, Trump complained that both he and Sanders are being robbed of their respective parties’ presidential nominations.

"I'm not a fan of Bernie," the Republican frontrunner reminded supporters on Sunday, before adding, "but he wins, like me."

"Think of this. So I watch Bernie, he wins. He wins. He keeps winning, winning. And then I see, he’s got no chance. They always say he’s got no chance. Why doesn’t he have a chance? Because the system is corrupt," Trump argued. "This is a crooked system, folks."

Trump went on to whine about his campaign's disastrous performance at state nominating conventions across the country and losing crucial delegates to rival Ted Cruz:

And it’s worse on the Republican side because I’m up millions and millions of votes on Cruz. Millions. Now I don’t mean like I’m up by two votes. I’m up by millions and millions of votes. I’m up by hundreds and hundreds of delegates. I go to Louisiana. I win Louisiana, and I say isn’t that beautiful. I love the people. I send them a note saying thank you very much. I love you, Louisiana. Then I found out that I get less delegates than Cruz because of some nonsense going on.

"What they’re doing" Trump argued, "whether it’s me, or whether it’s Bernie Sanders, when I look at it, and I see all of these victories that I have and all of these victories that he’s got, and then you look at the establishment, and I want to tell you, it's a corrupt deal going on in this country, and it’s not good. It’s not fair to you people."

Watch Trump's comments below:


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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