The Governor explains how he came to the conclusion that Bernie Sanders is not fighting for a third party movement but perhaps instead fighting for his own good.

We’ve seen this before.  We went through this with Ross Perot.

Perot go the nomination in the 1992.  He did a wonderful job, winning 20% of the vote.  And he got a lot of money for the Reform Party.

Then, in 1996, we wanted to show that the Reform party was growing and that the third party movement was real.  We had the Governor of Colorado, Dick Lamm, ready to go.  But Perot came in at the National Convention for the party -- and he took the spotlight from Lamm, earning the nomination once again.

It was then that it dawned on me, Wait, this isn’t about a third party movement -- this is about Ross Perot.

Then, of course, the Reform Party got infiltrated by Pat Buchanan.  They came in to destroy it. And it was at that time that I had left the party in 2000.  I called a news conference on the steps of the Governor’s residence. I announced I was no longer a member of the Reform Party; that the party had turned its back on me because of the attention I was getting.  They were upset that I had taken steam from Perot and became the face of the third party movement, following my gubernatorial win in Minnesota. I became a target for Perot and the rest of the Reform Party, which resulted in my departure. They did everything they could to undermine me.

It was all about Ross Perot, and no longer about the fight for the third party movement.

That’s the same thing that’s happening here with Bernie Sanders.

The reason I’m mentioning this is because this is how I felt upon seeing Bernie Sanders this week.  It’s no longer about the fight for a political revolution.  When he told me he would support the Democratic nominee, it became about his political choices and his career as opposed to fighting for independents and breaking the two-party duopoly.

It disappointed me greatly when Bernie Sanders told me he would endorse Hillary Clinton if and when he lost.  That, to me, is selling out.

-Jesse Ventura


WANT MORE? SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE #OFFTHEGRID UPDATES

Interested in receiving #OffTheGrid show updates, advance sneak peeks, giveaways & more awesome in-the-know info about the show? Click here to subscribe to our regular e-updates.a

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.

More from Jesse Ventura's Off The Grid

Advertisement