'The end of democracy': Bernie Sanders says 'humiliated' Trump could cause 'collapse'

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who ran against then-candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary, is now urging his fellow Americans to get behind his former rival in order to save the country.

In a recent interview with the Guardian, Sanders warned that if sent back to the White House for a second term, former President Donald Trump would use the opportunity to fundamentally and perhaps permanently change the United States' form of government.

"It will be the end of democracy, functional democracy," Sanders said of a second Trump presidency. "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."

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The Vermont senator stressed that Trump was the true threat, not just his supporters, whom Sanders argues have been taken in by the former president's demagogic rhetoric.

"I do not believe that all of Trump’s supporters are racist or sexist or homophobes. I think what’s going on in this country is a belief that the government is failing ordinary Americans," Sanders told the Guardian. "Trump comes along and says, 'I’ll be your strong guy, I'll deal with all your anxieties — immigration, transgender issues, race — I'll be there for you."

Sanders — whose father's family was effectively wiped out during the Holocaust — didn't mince words when comparing the current moment in American politics to Germany prior to the election of Adolf Hitler. He also called on Biden to be a more vocal champion of issues pertinent to working-class Americans.

"The challenge we face is to be able to show people that government in a democratic society can address their very serious needs. If we do that, we defeat Trump. If we do not, then we are the Weimar republic of the early 1930s," Sanders said. "[Biden] has got to say, in my view, that if he is re-elected, within two months he will bring about the sweeping changes the working class of this country desperately need."

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Click here to read Sanders' Guardian interview in full.