Consumer advocate and Connecticut resident Ralph Nader says Hillary Clinton will be the next U.S. president, only because the nomination process favors people that Nader calls "establishment candidates."
The five-time presidential candidate for the Green Party said the superdelegate system is part of the problem.
“The system is tilted by unelected superdelegates that are often cronies of the establishment candidate, very close friends often -- for example, Hillary Clinton,” Nader said. “These are elected members of Congress, some governors, and some other party operatives. It’s not a democratic process.”
Superdelegates have drawn criticism because they can vote for who they want, regardless of popular opinion. 581 superdelegates have pledged support of Clinton, while only 49 have supported her Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders.
If Sanders had those superdelegates instead of Clinton, he would be the Democratic front-runner. Clinton, however, is winning the popular vote.
Nader also suggests that closed primary states -- like Connecticut, where people have to be registered with a political party to vote -- prevent many people from participating, which also impacts poll results.
“And that favors the establishment because it’s very hard for independent voters to get in, and they favor Bernie Sanders substantially,” Nader said.
He also hammered the presidential debate process, which he said unfairly leaves out third-party candidates.
“This debate commission is a corporation. And the debates are funded by corporate interest. Like in the past, AT&T, Ford Motor Company, and Anheuser-Busch,” Nader said. “I don’t think it’s a credit to our democracy to have commercialism have such a sway over one of the few ways candidates can reach tens of millions of people -- and that’s through the presidential debates.”
Last September, a coalition of third-party political groups filed a lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates. They claim the current debate system, set up in 1987, is a violation of anti-trust law because it prevents third-party candidates from participating. President Obama and his former Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, have each filed briefs against the suit.
But come November, Nader said Clinton will have an unlikely ally who will ultimately help her win.
“Which is Donald Trump defeating Donald Trump. He is un-self-controllable. Not just uncontrollable. He is un-self-controllable,” Nader said.
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