Bernie Sanders Schools The Media Why It's Fair To Call Trump An Authoritarian

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Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:07 pm

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had to school the press on why it is “fair” to call out Trump’s love for authoritarians during an interview on CBS’s Face The Nation.

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Transcript via CBS’s Face The Nation:

DICKERSON: All right, Senator Scott, thanks so much for being with us.

Joining us now is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. He’s in Burlington.

Senator Sanders, you tweeted something this morning about the president and his meetings overseas.

You said — quote — “President Trump has never met a leader of an authoritarian nation that he didn’t like.”

And you named Russia, China, Saudi Arabia.

Is that really fair? President Obama hosted a state dinner with the Chinese president. He was quite solicitous of the Saudi king. And he tried a reset with Putin in Russia. Isn’t this what presidents do?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: No, you want to make friendships. You want to have good relationships.

But, at the same time as we have a president attacking the media every day as fake news, encouraging Republican governors around the country to suppress the vote, playing the race card in the sense of trying to divide us up by the color of our skin, by the country that we came from, while he’s doing all of these things, he has wonderful things to say about Mr. Putin.

The idea that he reports back to us that Mr. Putin said that Russia did not have anything to do in terms of interfering with our elections is — and he believes him, while he does not believe the intelligence agencies of the United States of America, is beyond absurd.

Face The Nation host John Dickerson’s question had to have been a joke because it contained all the elements of Republican bias. Dickerson pulled the complaint about “fairness” straight from Trump. The CBS host made a false equivalency to Barack Obama, while also ignoring the evidence of Trump’s own words and behavior.

Trump has spent his presidency questioning democratic leaders, attacking domestic Democratic institutions, and lavishing praise on authoritarians like Putin. It is more than fair to say that Trump admires authoritarians. It’s a fact, and any member of the press who ignores this fact is helping this president undermine democracy.

Bernie Sanders sought right through the question and delivered a reminder that the media that facts, not fairness should be the focal point when discussing Trump.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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