- cross-posted to:
- us_news@lemmygrad.ml
- cross-posted to:
- us_news@lemmygrad.ml
Leftwing senator advises ‘unification of progressive people in general’ because threat from Republican ex-president is too great
Progressive US voters must unite behind Joe Biden rather than consider any of his Democratic primary challengers because the threat of another Donald Trump presidency is too great, Bernie Sanders has said.
“We’re taking on the … former president, who, in fact, does not believe in democracy – he is an authoritarian, and a very, very dangerous person,” the senator and Vermont independent, who caucuses with Democrats, said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think at this moment there has to be unification of progressive people in general in all of this country.”
Sanders’ remarks came as Trump continued grappling with more than 90 criminal charges across four separate indictments filed against him for his efforts to forcibly nullify his defeat to Biden in the 2020 presidential race, his illicit retention of classified documents, and hush-money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Despite the unprecedented legal peril confronting him, Trump enjoys a commanding lead over his competitors in the Republican presidential primary, polls show.
And though polling for now shows Biden generally is ahead of Trump, that has not stopped Robert F Kennedy Jr and Marianne Williamson from mounting long-shot Democratic primary challenges – or third-party progressive candidate Cornel West from running.
Sanders himself was the runner-up for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 White House race won by Trump and in 2020, with West among his supporters. But Sanders this time quickly endorsed Biden’s re-election campaign, a decision which prompted West to accuse him of only backing Biden because he is “fearful of the neo-fascism of Trump”.
The senator responded to that criticism on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, saying, “Where I disagree with my good friend Cornel West is – I think, in these really very difficult times, there is a real question whether democracy is going to remain in the United States of America.
“You know, Donald Trump is not somebody who believes in democracy, whether women are going to be able to continue to control their own bodies, whether we have social justice in America, [whether] we end bigotry.”
Sanders didn’t elaborate, but his remarks seemed to be an allusion to the Trump White House’s creation of the US supreme court supermajority, which last year struck down the federal abortion rights that the Roe v Wade decision had established decades earlier.
That court also struck down race-conscious admissions in higher education as well as a Colorado law that required entities to afford same-sex couples equal treatment, among other decisions lamented by progressives.
“Around that, I think we have got to bring the entire progressive community to defeat Trump – or whoever the Republican nominee will be – [and] support Biden,” Sanders added on State of the Union.
Sanders nonetheless said he planned to push Biden to tackle “corporate greed and the massive levels of income and wealth inequality” across the US. On Meet the Press, he suggested he would urge Biden to “take on the billionaire class”.
Those comments came about four months after Sanders called on the US government to confiscate 100% of any money that Americans make above $999m, saying people with that much wealth “can survive just fine” without becoming billionaires.
You must log in or register to comment.
Everywhere I go I’m usually the oldest person in the room, and I’ve been hearing that line since long before I’d ever heard of Donald Trump.
Always, the left has to support whatever bland middle-of-the-road candidate the Democrats put forward, candidates who seem idea-free and utterly without passion, because the Republicans have a terrifying candidate. Gotta take boring over terrifying.
And Bernie’s right. I ain’t arguing.
Sure is a bucket of swill we’re always forced to drink from, though.
I guess the important thing is that one should do other things in addition to voting for the bland somewhat shitty candidate that’s at least better than the other guy.
Unionising and getting involved on the local level are two good starting points. Encouraging others to unionise and to get involved locally is also good.
Oh, and reading up on alternative election systems and teaching people about it would be good, but maybe too ambitious. Who wants to listen to anyone ramble on about ranked choice or whatever.
This is the correct answer that so few of us realize. We as a people are able to do more than one thing at once. Yes, we should still vote for the lesser of 2 evils, AND we should also make progress to improve the system itself.
I think yours are better points, but also: voting in the primaries. I’m sure Bernie would support a more progressive candidate as well!
I think a big part is that progress is slow, I want it faster but as the old generation dies off we will get further left politicians but also right so hopefully with internet and general empathy we can overcome conservatives.
This is why I, at the time, was sort of happy that trump won. I hoped that dems losing what they thought was a sure win to an assclown like trump would make them shape up and put forward some actual candidates that the people could truly get behind. Instead they doubled down with milquetoast shitlibs. We’re never going to get out of this rut of voting for the lesser evil without ranked choice voting.
I know this is the wrong server to say it, but there were some things I liked about Hillary. I am still convinced that her gender played far more of a role in people’s hatred of her than they will ever be able to accept.
Yes, she’s still a neo-liberal, but she’s further left than most of the Democrats, and we consistently see that the supermajority of non-Republican voters are simply not as progressive as most of us are. Hillary had a well-conceived labor plan and respected unions. She liked the idea of single-payer, if not enough to spend too much political capital on it. She was left of Obama and of Biden, if still to the right of her “progressive” so-called roots.
Here’s my non-opinionated counterpoint. Trump bested Hillary on Labor when his plan was “kick out immigrants and deregulate coal so you get your dangerous job back”, and she had a 100 page labor plan that involved things like subsidized retraining of coal workers. The Democrats have learned that you will not win Labor by favoring them. A bad lesson.
I’ve stopped voting for the worst of two evils. I leave it blank.
Out here desperately hoping that the fake leftists propping up Trump are mostly Russian trolls or just a pocket of internet children. I think actual real life people on the left in the US largely get how dangerous this could be.
Honestly, this whole thing feels eerily similar to the rise of Hitler - Even Trump facing legal troubles matches well enough
The good news is that building your personality cult around an obese man in his late 70s is not very sustainable in the long run.
The bad news is they have stock of backups a mile long.
may allah push that removed down the stairs
nah, he’s the person before the rise, the one who get the dominos to fall further
but honestly, the dominos have been falling since washington
Seriously. There were people getting kidnapped in protests because Trump sent in the border guard to “defend” a court house. That’s way beyond “the status quo protects order and property first and foremost”.
no its really not, the US has been doing this shit since inception
You ignored all the previous times we grilled you for your ignorance, get a grip, you can read.
he’s had a whole term and shown he’s not planning on stopping Trump. He’s still walking free after all the treason and assaults on democracy.
Maybe the last few years of Trump’s fascist authoritarian rhetoric have confused you, but the President does not, and never should, prosecute crimes. Despite its obvious flaws, we have a legal system for a reason.
Maybe you werent paying attention during trumps terms to know the president has control of the attorney general and department of justice. Its how trump avoided consequences for the shit with russia and extorting ukraine. The executive branch does prosecute crimes, they just dont oversee the trial. And bidens DoJ have not been prosecuting crimes.
No he doesn’t. He’s not supposed to, and that’s what the careerists were trying to stop. The DOJ and Attorney General are part of the Executive cabinet but they answer to Congress, not the President. The President has his own White House counsel, the AG does not serve as his personal lawyer.
This just is not true, the president chooses the AG and has authority to terminate them. They are part of the presidential cabinet and are legal advisors to the president. They are wholly under the executive branch.
The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the Office of the Attorney General which evolved over the years into the head of the Department of Justice and chief law enforcement officer of the Federal Government. The Attorney General represents the United States in legal matters generally and gives advice and opinions to the President and to the heads of the executive departments of the Government when so requested.
That doesn’t mean the AG is the President’s personal lawyer. That’s the Office of Counsel to the President.
https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/counsel-to-the-president
The Counsel’s Office also helps define the line between official and political activities, oversees executive appointments and judicial selection, handles Presidential pardons, reviews legislation and Presidential statements, and handles lawsuits against the President in his role as President, as well as serving as the White House Contact for the Department of Justice.
I havent said anything about him being Biden’s lawyer, Biden’s not on trial. Im talking about their jobs as public servants. I wanna give a clear example of what I mean but it’s hard to come up with a better example than what Trump’s done, of a crime being committed and knowing who did it. I dunno say some crazy guy kidnaps the vice president or something, they get caught…and then nothing happens because the AG refuses to prosecute them. That’s just plain dereliction of duty. But the checks and balance for the AG is the president that appoints and can terminate them. If that AG is terminated, then it was just all on the AG for being bad. But if the AG is still around, then the president has to partake in that blame, and the check is you dont reelect them.
I mean, yeah! Trump’s facing 91 felony charges at my last count, and been indicted at least 4 times, but sure. Ain’t nobody doin’ nothin’.
None of these are actual consequences. Like i said, he is still walking free.
So you’d prefer it if Biden just, like, did a little fascism and sent a bunch of goons to drag Trump off to Guantanamo or wherever?
Prosecute him sooner than the entire length of watergate to nixons resignation. God the trials dont even start until next year.
So should we just skip due process?
Trump’s a shit and probably deserves that treatment, but that’s still not what we do here
Due process for anyone else is a hell of a lot faster. I was mad after the first month of Bidens term with no prosecution announcement. We’re just now beginning the process that will continue to be long and drawn out.
It’s almost like these are a large amount of major crimes with a shitton of information to sift through
Oh, and it’s a former president, so the work is likely being checked over exhaustively to ensure there isn’t something wrong with it
You are describing a trial to me. The trial is going to be long winded as youve described. The trial doesnt start for another year. Just to game an election year.
Sorry Bernie. I love ya but i voted for biden as parting gift when i left the party in 2020. If the dems et al cannot/will not keep him from running themselves then they get no vote from me, since clearly governance is beyond them.
I ain’t telling anyone to do the same, but I’m done playing the Democrats game.
Done and done, Bernie.
West to accuse him of only backing Biden because he is “fearful of the neo-fascism of Trump.
That quote shows how frankly, stupid, Cornel West is. Game theory & math show that it is impossible for a 3rd party run to succeed with US style FPtP voting in place. Get rid of that & then we can talk, but not to you, shit for brains.
Yep Bernie is right, 100%.
Yep Bernie is right, 100%.
He always had been. I’ve never known him to be wrong.
Removed by mod
Don’t worry, I won’t be voting for Cornell West nor Biden nor Trump, and no one should. Since voting is absolutely the least someone can do, I’ll be voting for a non-capitalist candidate.
You can hold your principles high above everyone else as the person you hate the most wins. Least you didn’t vote for him, right?
Agreed. Whatever racist shill the Democrats (who are supposed to be better then that) put up will hopefully not win and since voting is the literally the least one can do, there is no reason to not support a non-capitalist candidate.
Sadly, First Past The Post means your vote will be wasted and essentially count as a non vote
Totally agree, voting is a waste, but it is the literal least one can do, so no need to support Capitalism at that level.
