Sanders/Cardi B 2020? Bernie Says Rapper Is Right About Social Security
Image by Getty Images
By Aiden Pink April 18, 2018
Sen. Bernie Sanders has found an unexpected ally in his fight to strengthen Social Security spending: Cardi B, the stripper-turned-rapper behind “Bodak Yellow,” one of the biggest hits of last year.
Cardi B, born Belcalis Almanzar, is a self-proclaimed history buff who says she can name all the presidents in order. In a recent interview with GQ, she spoke about her love of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
“First of all,” she said, “he helped us get over the Depression, all while he was in a wheelchair. Like, this man was suffering from polio at the time of his presidency, and yet all he was worried about was trying to make America great—make America great again for real. He’s the real ‘Make America Great Again,’ because if it wasn’t for him, old people wouldn’t even get Social Security.”
Her comments were picked up by the advocacy group Social Security Works, whose tweet was in turn picked up by Sanders.
“Cardi B is right,” Sanders tweeted. “If we are really going to make America great we need to strengthen Social Security so that seniors are able to retire with the dignity they deserve.”
He followed up on his comments with a video:
Thanks to @iamcardib for calling attention to the importance of Social Security. pic.twitter.com/bJdt9Oxzzf
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 18, 2018
Cardi B, who like Sanders was born in New York City, felt the Bern during the 2016 presidential election, calling on viewers to “vote for Daddy Bernie, b****.”
Sanders has also praised other rappers for their advocacy. He recorded a series of videos with rapper Killer Mike during the presidential primaries, and wrote on Twitter in 2016: “Jay Z is right: We have to end the war on drugs.”
Sanders had a short-lived musical career himself, participating in a folk album in Vermont in 1987:
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
