Bernie Sanders is 81 years old. He’s spent three decades trying to clean up the congressional muck. He’s seen it all and he’s tired, so very very tired. And sure, his fight for universal health care and student debt abolishment, and a bigger tax on the oligarchs that run our country is noble, laudable, an easy rallying cry for millennials. But you know the most relatable thing about Senator Sanders? His complete disgust with the capitalist grift that is Valentine’s Day.
The grandfather of the Democratic party took part in an interview with New York Magazine to promote his upcoming book, It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, this week. The conversation took place over pork noodle soup at his favorite Chinese restaurant, on Valentine’s Day no less, and when reminded by writer Bridget Read of the special holiday reserved for all things romance, Sanders got cantankerously candid.
The senator had no idea it was Valentine’s Day. “When is that? This weekend?” Bernie Sanders asked when I greeted him for dinner on February 14 at Young Chow, a Chinese restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue that he likes. No, I told him, it is Valentine’s Day currently, right now, as this very meal is taking place. He was grumpy. “Why is Valentine’s Day in the middle of the week?”
The rest of the interview went as you’d imagine: Bernie railed against Big Pharma, anti-union CEOs, the poor conditions for railroad workers, and Democratic roadblocks like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, but when he was reminded once again of the import of the day before Read took her leave, he had an on-brand response:
I suggested that maybe he should send a text to his wife, Jane, since it was Valentine’s Day. “Okay, okay,” he said, waving me off.
Somehow, his hatred for the holiday just makes us love him even more.