With the 2024 presidential race beginning with the Iowa caucuses on Monday, indications suggest Donald Trump may secure the Republican nomination, yet a seasoned senator cautioned on Saturday about the risks of a second term for the ex-president.
More Serious Threat: “A second Trump presidency will be more extreme. He is a bitter man, having gone through four indictments, humiliated, he's going to take it out on his enemies,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) in an interview with Guardian.
The senator went on to suggest that Trump 2.0 will be the “end of democracy, functional democracy.” He also outlined how the former president would steadily weaken democracy by making it harder for young people and people of color to vote, weaken his political opposition and whipping up anger against minorities and immigrants.
Sanders sees a second Trump presidency as much more extreme than the first. The senator said that Democrats need “to explain to the American people what that means to them – what the collapse of American democracy will mean to all of us.”
Taking On Trump: Sanders, discussing why some Americans back Trump, said, “I think what's going on in this country is a belief that the government is failing ordinary Americans.”
“The challenge 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,” he added.
Sanders said Trump was towing in line with demagogues the world over, capitalizing on the anxieties and struggles of the people. “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.'”
He also slammed the Democrats for standing as muted spectators and ceding territory to Trump. Democrat’s promise to voters as ”We're pretty bad, but Republicans are worse” is simply not good enough, he said.
Sanders called President Joe Biden a “likable and decent man” but called upon him to step up. ”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,” he said.
Nationwide opinion polls project Trump as the likely Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, and he also trumps Biden in a hypothetical two-way matchup.
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