Bernie Sanders: America must 'revitalize democracy' — or suffer 'Trumpian, authoritarian-type change'

When President Joe Biden announced that he was seeking reelection, it didn't take Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) long to give him an enthusiastic endorsement.

Biden and Sanders have plenty of political differences. The 81-year-president is a centrist, while the 82-year-old Sanders is a self-described "democratic socialist" — and they had some heated debates during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

But Sanders has made it clear that he won't be running for president in 2024 and that he considers Biden, disagreements and all, a much better option than GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

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In an op-ed/think piece published by The Guardian on November 30, Sanders emphasizes that the United States is facing a long list of "enormous" challenges and is at a crossroads. And it can respond to them by either "revitalizing American democracy" or taking a dark "Trumpian" turn.

Sanders never mentions Biden or his reelection campaign in his op-ed. Instead, the veteran U.S. senator identifies some of the many "challenges" the U.S. is facing — health care, education, climate change, income inequality, growing authoritarianism — and stresses that the U.S. can respond to them in either a positive or negative way.

"Donald Trump, who is becoming more right-wing and extremist every day, is leading many of the presidential polls," Sanders warns. "In a recent speech, using language that echoes Adolf Hitler, Trump stated: 'We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.' He also had strong praise for Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán."

Sanders continues, "In an interview, Trump said migrants were 'poisoning the blood of our country,' promising in another speech that he would round up undocumented people on a vast scale, detain them in sprawling camps, and deport millions of people per year."

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The senator stresses that in light of all these challenges, "the American people today are angry."

"Change is coming," Sanders writes. "The question is: what kind of change will it be? Will it be a Trumpian, authoritarian-type change that exploits that anger and turns it against minorities and immigrants, blaming them for the crises we are experiencing? Or will it be a change that revitalizes American democracy, unites and empowers working people of all backgrounds and has the courage to take on a corrupt ruling class whose greed is causing irreparable destruction in our country and around the world?"

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Sen. Bernie Sanders' full op-ed for The Guardian is available at this link.