Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joked that one way to ride the subway is to “jump over the turnstile,” presumably without paying.
In an editorial meeting with The New York Daily News, Sanders was asked when the last time he “rode the subway,” and the 74-year old socialist claimed that the last time was a year ago, adding, “But I know how to ride the subways. I’ve been on them once or twice.”
The Daily News editor responded, “Do you really? Do you really? How do you ride the subway today?”
“What do you mean, ‘How do you ride the subway,'” Sanders asked.
“How do you get on the subway today?” The NY Daily News reiterated.
Sanders replied, “You get a token and you get in.”
When told that he was “wrong,” Sanders suggested, “You jump over the turnstile.”
“We would like our photographer to be there when you jump over the turnstile,” the Daily News editor joked before changing the question.
There has been a long history of presidential candidates seeming to be out of touch with the realities of life outside of their high-profile lives. In 1992, while running for reelection, President George H. W. Bush was amazed by the electric barcode scanners at the grocery store checkout lines. He failed to realize that the new technology had actually been around since 1976.