Bernie Sanders not absolutely certain Trump would veto Medicare for All bill

Senator Bernie Sanders is not certain whether President Donald Trump would veto Medicare for All legislation. In an interview on Thursday, the independent senator from Vermont said he could not say with absolute certainty that Trump would reject the bill.

In an interview with MS NOW host Chris Hayes, Sanders said, "Healthcare is a human right. We need Medicare for All, which is now supported by over 60% of Americans, probably 80-90% of Democrats."

Hayes stopped Sanders to say he knows the senator believes in it. Looking at the polling, he said it was very clear that support for Medicare for All has gone up. He said, "It was very interesting that Abdul El-Sayed was attacked for a million things in that race, but not for that."

But Hayes expressed doubt that Trump would sign the legislation, saying the odds of that happening were pretty small, even if the bill passed the Senate and the House and reached Trump's desk.

Sanders disagreed. He said, "Hold it, hold it. Two points. Point number one, Trump has the constitutional right to veto, if he wants to do it. But we have the constitutional right to represent the American people and to pass the damn thing, and to show the American people that we are sick and tired of maintaining a broken system."

He added, "Number two. You know what? Donald Trump may be a bit crazy, but he is not stupid. And he is a good politician. And if this guy looks out all over the country, and he says, 'Oh my God, everybody knows the system is broken, you know what, what do I got to lose?' So I am not absolutely certain that Trump would not sign it."

Sanders said that whether Trump signs it or not, the Democrats' job is to produce the bill and send it to his desk. "He wants to veto it, Republicans want to sustain that veto, that is their responsibility. The American people will see it," he said.

Sanders has been pushing for Medicare for All for years. Support for it has become more mainstream in the Democratic Party.

Psychotherapist and author Jonathan Alpert told Fox News Digital in a statement that Sanders has been "giving the same speech for decades." He said, "He knows how to tap into people's frustrations, but calling health care a human right doesn't automatically make Medicare for All the answer."

Alpert added, "Now Bernie is saying Trump 'may be a bit crazy, but he is not stupid' and calling him 'a good politician.' That's quite a compliment coming from someone who's spent years attacking Trump. Even Bernie seems to recognize what many Democrats refuse to admit: Trump is a skilled politician who knows how to read the public."

In Alpert's view, "Bernie knows exactly what he's doing. He's appealing to Trump's ego, dangling the possibility of a historic political victory. It's a clever bit of psychological maneuvering. Bernie may think Trump is crazy, but apparently he's smart enough to know that flattering him might get him further than attacking him. Other politicians may want to take a cue from Bernie."

Sanders' comments came after the Democrats' wave of big victories in Tuesday's midterm elections, in which they won back control of the House and the Senate. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.