Reacting to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ surge in national polls and success in the early-voting states, Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney said on Tuesday that “there’s no way on God’s green Earth” that “a socialist will beat President Trump in an election.”
“It’s not going to happen,” he added during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
The self-described democratic socialist’s apparent front-runner status has Democratic Party elders increasingly concerned about the Vermont senator’s potential to become their nominee — as he heads into this weekend’s South Carolina primary with a massive lead.
“He’s on track to win the nomination from the Democrats,” Varney acknowledged but stressed that he doesn’t think Sanders can beat Trump.
“If Bernie Sanders goes head to head with Donald Trump in November, Bernie Sanders will lose many, many states, he’ll lose to Trump,” he added, predicting Republicans “will keep control of the Senate” and “they’ll flip the House.”
When host Ainsley Earhardt asked Varney if he thinks more centrists are in line with Trump compared to Sanders given “he’s so far left,” he answered: “I think you could see some Democrats voting for Trump in the event of a matchup between the two.”
“Let’s not forget 20 percent of the people that go to these massive Trump rallies are Democrats,” he added.
Varney made the comments on Tuesday reacting to Sanders’ doubling down on his remarks praising former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro during a televised town hall on Monday night after he raised eyebrows for complimenting the brutal leader’s education reforms.
“When Fidel Castro first came into power … you know what he did? He initiated a major literacy program. It was a lot of folks in Cuba at that point who were illiterate and he formed the Literacy Brigade … and they went out and they helped people learn to read and write You know what? I think teaching people to read and write is a good thing,” Sanders said in response to criticism.
He continued, “I have been extremely consistent and critical of all authoritarian regimes all over the world including Cuba, including Nicaragua, including Saudi Arabia, including China, including Russia. I happen to believe in democracy, not authoritarianism. … China is an authoritarian country … but can anyone deny, I mean the facts are clear, that they have taken more people out of extreme poverty than any country in history. Why you criticize when I say that — that’s the truth. So that is the fact. End of discussion.”
Sanders was criticized for remarks he said during a “60 Minutes” interview over the weekend.
Several Democratic lawmakers, many of them who represent Cuban-Americans in Florida, blasted Sanders for those remarks.
“He loves Castro because if elected, Bernie Sanders would do something pretty similar to what Castro did,” Varney said on Tuesday reacting to the senator’s comments complimenting Castro’s education reforms. “The seizure of private homes, private businesses and private wealth. That’s what he would do.”
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“The only thing that Bernie Sanders has ever done is to move his party to the left. He’s achieved nothing in a lifetime of politics,” he added.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.