Bernie Sanders claims that his supporters can do math, admits that Hillary Clinton can beat Donald Trump, and says if he is elected Debbie Wasserman Schultz would be out of a job.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

CNN host Jake Tapper asked the candidate over the weekend if he was misleading his supporters by downplaying the fact that Clinton has “roughly 54 percent” of the pledged delegates. 

“It seems unlikely that you’ll actually achieve the majority of the pledged delegates,” Tapper noted. 

“I assume that most of the people who come to my rallies can do arithmetic,” the candidate quipped. “If I have 46 percent, she has 54 percent. The point that I was making is there’s something absurd when I get 46 percent of the delegates that come from real contests — real elections, and 7 percent of the super delegates.” 

“I am the stronger candidate because we appeal to independents, people who are not in love with either the Democratic or the Republican Party,” Sanders insisted.

That argument about independent voters is a strong one, assuming of course that they would also be willing to vote for Democrats down ticket to give a President Sanders the support in the House and Senate that he would need to pass ANY of his very progressive policies.

Which by the way would have to be vast. Overwhelming even.

However independents are exactly that, independent. So if they are voting all up and down the ballot based on their own criteria for who they like, that does not build the kind of coalition that Sanders would need.

Hillary Clinton on the other hand has strong support from the Democrats, and is strongly identified as a Democrat, so a vote for her on a ballot is an almost certain vote for other Democrats on that voting form as well.

And if Hillary feels she really needs those independents, well I'm sure she knows who to call.

Later in the interview Sanders makes the case that he thinks super delegates who signed on with Hillary before he jumped into the race should reevaluate and consider supporting him.

But this is after weeks, and weeks where Sanders attacked Democratic leaders, suggested that the Democratic party was owned by Wall Street, and after his supporters disrupted the Nevada convention causing many in the party to express concern over what might happen in Philadelphia in July.

The idea that many super delegates would ignore all of that and abandon Hillary Clinton in favor of the self described Democratic Socialist seems fantastical at best.

Which brings us back to the question at the top of the page, CAN Bernie Sanders supporters actually do arithmetic?

Not entirely convinced.