Ben and Jerry are split over whether they would support Hillary Clinton
"It would be pretty hard for me to support her."
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield—the two Vermonters known for founding the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s and, more recently, supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders—participated in an online discussion Thursday afternoon to dish on the 2016 election.
During the chat, hosted by Sidewire, Cohen and Greenfield were asked if they would support the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the general election, despite their longtime support and relationship with Sanders.
Though he qualified his support to note that Clinton had not yet been officially nominated, Greenfield said he would ultimately support the former secretary of state.
First of all…Hillary is not yet the democratic nominee. That will be decided at the convention. I’m absolutely committed to defeating Donald Trump in November. For me, if Hillary is the nominee, I will support her.
Cohen was much less certain, calling Clinton the “poster child” for money in politics, an issue that both he and Greenfield have consistently demonstrated against.
For me, the biggest problem with our country is big money in politics and since Hillary is the poster child for money in politics, it would be pretty hard for me to support her.
Cohen strongly emphasized, however, that he would not be supporting the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, who he called “the worst presidential nominee I’ve ever seen in my life by a factor of 1000.”
Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Cohen and Greenfield have worked to use their frozen specialty to influence the political process. Since the beginning of the campaign, the two ice cream entrepreneurs have scooped out free ice cream on the trail for Sanders. Cohen even released a homemade batch of ice cream in support of the senator, in addition to the company’s recently released Empower Mint flavor in support of voting rights.
In Thursday’s discussion, Cohen and Greenfield also talked about the issues the feel are most important other than campaign finance reform, their favorite ice cream flavor, and their favorite Sanders memories dating back to his time as mayor of Burlington, Vermont—where Ben & Jerry’s was first founded.
You can read the full Sidewire Q&A here.
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