Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the reelection of former President Trump would be the “end of democracy” in an interview released Saturday by The Guardian.

“It will be the end of democracy, functional democracy,” Sanders said in the interview.

The Vermont senator also said in the interview that he thinks that another round of Trump as the president will be a lot more extreme than the first.

“He’s made that clear,” Sanders said. “There’s a lot of personal bitterness, he’s a bitter man, having gone through four indictments, humiliated, he’s going to take it out on his enemies. We’ve got to explain to the American people what that means to them — what the collapse of American democracy will mean to all of us.”

Sanders’s words echo those President Biden made in a recent campaign speech during which he said that Trump’s return to the presidency would risk American democracy. The president highlighted the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in an attempt to cement a point about Trump and other Republicans espousing a kind of extremism that was seen by the world on that day.

  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Preemptively blaming them for the loss that centrist Democrats would prefer to having to abandon support for genocide hasn’t changed the situation:

    If Biden wants the votes of people for whom genocide is a dealbreaker, he cannot continue supporting genocide.

    • acceptable_pumpkin@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You are either a completely naive person, or a paid misinformation actor. There is no scenario on earth where Trump is any better for averting genocide. Have you not been paying attention to anything Trump has been saying? You don’t like genocide, that’s great neither do I, but abstaining from voting or voting for Trump is the most childish, foolish thing you can do in this election.

      The other poster is correct. If you don’t vote, or vote for Trump, and he wins, you are partly to blame for that. Any future human rights violations are on your hands.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The other poster is correct. If you don’t vote, or vote for Trump, and he wins, you are partly to blame for that.

        Well it’s a good thing I’m not doing that, then. I’m voting for Biden.

        Biden should not be supporting genocide. If he wants the votes of people for whom genocide is a dealbreaker, he must cease his support for genocide.

        I know you don’t want to hear this. But that’s not changing the situation.

        You don’t like genocide, that’s great neither do I

        Then maybe don’t jump to conclusions regarding people who also oppose genocide. Maybe don’t sling insults and accusations, like so:

        You are either a completely naive person, or a paid misinformation actor.

        You’re so keyed up that you’re imagining that people who agree with you are part of an international conspiracy.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The other poster is correct. If you don’t vote, or vote for Trump, and he wins, you are partly to blame for that. Any future human rights violations are on your hands.

        Bullshit. It’s on the parties, for not giving Americans choices on who they can vote for.

        • acceptable_pumpkin@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, it’s on the voters for not voting in better candidates. I was all for Bernie until he lost the primary. It sucks that he didn’t make it to the general election, but no way in hell was I going to throw my vote away on a 3rd party candidate. It’s frustrating, I get it, but people need to be realistic with their votes.

          The stakes in this election are just too high. Never in my life have we had such a terrifying dictator-wannabe candidate running.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It’s frustrating, I get it, but people need to be realistic with their votes.

            For how many times do people allow themselves to be manipulated, to have their vote manipulated by a party to vote for a party?

            And some point you have to say “Enough!”, no matter the cost.

            If they want my vote, they have to earn it ethically/morally. Putting up someone else besides Biden would do that. Guilt-tripping me to vote for Biden, not so much.

            The stakes in this election are just too high. Never in my life have we had such a terrifying dictator-wannabe candidate running.

            The Democratic party establishment sees that too, but yet, they rather win (and maintain their power) by risking it all, vs allowing a better candidate run in Biden’s place. If this country burns, we ALL will suffer, but we ALL won’t be responsible for that. The ball is in their court, not the voters.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      1 year ago

      Good luck in the hellscape that’s coming, then. You’ll have the comfort of your explanation for why it’s not your fault.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s not going to be my fault; I’m voting for Biden.

        That doesn’t change the opinion of those for whom support for genocide is a dealbreaker. If he wants their support, he cannot continue to support genocide.

        If centrists want to win, they need to get used to the idea that they might not always get every single thing they want. Biden may need to do something centrists don’t like and cease his support for genocide.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s not our fault because we didn’t vote for Biden in the 2020 primaries. The selfish pieces of shit who did decided to fuck over progressives and leftists and now you’re all mad because you can’t count on us in the general? Pound sand. Stop electing procorporate trash in the primaries.

        • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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          1 year ago

          Are you under the impression that I didn’t vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary? Because I did. I’m not one of the pieces of shit who fucked him over. I don’t like them any more than you do.

          You need to realize that there may not be a primary or general election for you or I to vote or get fucked over in for quite some time if Trump wins. If that happens, it’ll be your fault, and I’ll just have as much right to be mad at you as you seem to be at me right now.

          Refusing to vote for Biden in the general is going to help nobody except the absolute worst and most antidemocratic of the procorporate trash. If you want to do that, you’re helping them, in conjunction with the people who fucked you and me over in the primaries.