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.
no, I’ll be voting against Trump
If you were voting against Trump, you would be voting for the only person who has a chance to beat Trump. Otherwise you are voting for Trump. That’s how elections work.
cornel west is running against Trump
Do you think Cornel West has a chance of winning?
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yes. it may be slim but the chance exists.
The chance isn’t just slim. It’s astronomical.
The chance of Cornell West winning is probably smaller than a bit-flip happening, switching your vote to another candidate. That’s how little chance your vote would have to make the country a better place.
On the other hand, every vote not casted for the only viable non-Trump candidate helps Trump.
I’m European and would love for you to have the option to vote for proper social democrats or greens (especially greens!). But please, every US citizen needs to do their part to not get fascists get hold of your country.
It’s sad to say, but if you don’t vote for the democratic candidate, you might not have a chance to vote 3rd party in 4 years. (I don’t like fear mongering, but it’s a real enough possibility)
a vote cat against Trump does not help Trump. you are spreading misinformation.
Clearly you don’t understand the first-past-the-post system the US presidential election utilises.
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I do, and it doesn’t change whether what I said is true.
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>A vote for Biden cancels a vote for Trump.
no, both are counted as one vote for the respective candidates
>THIS is what you’re up against. Now is NOT the time to take a stand against single issue agendas.
genocide is one of a long list of reasons I haven’t voted Democrat for president since 2008.
>If you do ANYTHING outside of voting for the one person that stands a chance to beat him- you’re throwing away a vote and allowing a vote for Trump to be counted unchallenged.
wrong. I’m voting for cornel west, a different candidate. they aren’t allowed to just throw out votes.
>We alll know Biden sucks. But so does a total loss of democracy. And that’s what you’re looking at.
no, it is not
a vote for cornel west is not counted as a vote for trump.
you are spreading election misinformation.
No but it counts a vote away from another contender without hurting trump. This is the effect of FPTP voting. Essentially, if you have a vote, and you cast your vote for someone who cannot win, your vote is less useful than someone not voting at all. Voting against one candidate only hurts that candidate if the vote you cast won the election. Otherwise it was part of a split vote that helped them win.
> Essentially, if you have a vote, and you cast your vote for someone who cannot win, your vote is less useful than someone not voting at all.
impossible. why are you trying to suppress voter turnout?
the only other candidate i might want to win is jill stein, but i like cornel west ever-so-slightly more. is jill stein splitting the cornel west vote? no. there are people who she will persuade, there are people who he will persuade, and all those people are people who aren’t persuaded by the genocidal politicians we’ve already let try to run the country.
Every vote splits a vote for every other candidate. That’s how first past the post - winner takes all elections work. I would wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment if our voting system didn’t encourage our ugly two party system. I don’t particularly like Joe Biden as a candidate for the next 4 years either. But I understand that the system doesn’t work for me, meaning I have to work within the system. If I want my vote to produce any meaningful change, I have to make sure my vote goes to the candidate that I believe has the best chance of winning while providing the least amount of harm to the country and the highest chance of productive change of that system. That happens to be Biden this year which sucks. But it’s not as dangerous as allowing Trump to win who has clarified twice now that he intends on authoritarian action and being a dictator day one.
>Every vote splits a vote for every other candidate. That’s how first past the post - winner takes all elections work.
no, this is just a story that political pundits tell. the narrative of vote-splitting falls apart when you realize that you can never prove how an election would have gone without some candidate or other because you can’t prove a counterfactual.
> If I want my vote to produce any meaningful change, I have to make sure my vote goes to the candidate that I believe has the best chance of winning while providing the least amount of harm to the country and the highest chance of productive change of that system. That happens to be Biden
biden promised nothing will fundamentally change, and he wasn’t lying: he’s still building the wall and keeping kids in cages.
Do you think Cornel West has a chance of winning?
yes. it may be slim but he has a chance.
That’s absolutely delusional. The only way he has a chance is if both Biden and Trump die and the Democrats and Republicans both say, “never mind, we’re sitting out this election.” Which is like saying “a polar bear could live in Antarctica.” Yeah maybe, but polar bears don’t live in Antarctica.
you don’t know that. try to be civil. we can disagree with out calling each other delusional.
I didn’t call you delusional. I said that idea is delusional. And if it isn’t delusional, please explain exactly how Cornel West would achieve becoming president.
please explain to me exactly how Joe Biden is going to win every one of his votes.
your standard is far too high for what we’re discussing here.
The fact is that Cornel West is running for president. if he is elected, Trump is not elected.
I’m not saying that I know how it will happen. I’m saying you don’t know.
>I didn’t call you delusional. I said that idea is delusional.
You’re splitting hairs. and apology is better than getting defensive.