“Sanders Exclusive!” Trump Poses Greater Threat Than Young People Realize
Washington, DC – Though the longest-serving independent in the history of the US Congress, Sen. Bernie Sanders has always been a political outsider, he isn’t hesitant to display his practical side these days.
The senior senator from Vermont discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict, antisemitism, student protests, and President Joe Biden’s record in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY on Wednesday.
One thing that became evident right away was that Sanders was determined to face the challenge posed by potential Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump, regardless of his disagreements with Biden on certain matters.
Even though he is not where they want him to be in Israel, he thinks that Biden’s policy change is long overdue. However, he is also concerned that young people are undervaluing the real threat that Trump poses and may be blind to the fact that Biden is better on their side in their rage over Israel and other issues.
“We can be very angry at the Biden administration for their policies regarding Israel and Gaza, but the reality is that you have to look at a lot of things in the real world that you live in,” he stated while seated in the Capitol Hill hearing room of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.
“On the other hand, I would hope that most of the young people and protestors do not want to see Donald Trump, who is a racist, a sexist, a homophobe who doesn’t acknowledge the reality of climate change, become elected president of the United States.”
During his 2020 campaign, the 82-year-old congressman was well-liked by younger voters; yet, he eventually embraced Biden and became a formidable surrogate. The self-described Democratic socialist is now actively reaching out to Democrats, and polls indicate that Biden’s support is declining among a crucial voting bloc that helped the incumbent president win the White House almost four years ago.
These remarks about young people and Trump coincide with these developments. Sanders’s career has been based on his commitment to stand up to powerful people to support the working class, including lobbyists and large companies.
“Considering what he has already accomplished, I believe the president has a lot to be proud of. “I wonder if he receives recognition for it,” he remarked.
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Sanders commends Biden’s efforts on infrastructure and healthcare accessibility.
Speaking as the chair of HELP, Sanders discussed his collaboration with Biden to confront the pharmaceutical business. He and Biden met with activists for healthcare last month at the White House, where they discussed bringing inhalers down to $35 per month and other Democratic initiatives to increase access to healthcare.
“Medicare is going to be negotiating prices for the first time.” That has major implications for health care generally,” he stated.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed to rebuild the nation’s deteriorating roads, bridges, and water systems, as well as to address climate change and erase “a lot of” student debt, was among the achievements of the Biden administration, he continued.
In addition, he commended Biden for being the first president in American history to join United Auto Workers on a picket line in Michigan, demonstrating his support for labor unions and workers.
Sanders and the Biden administration’s “unfettered military aid” to Israel in its war on Gaza, which began on October 7 after Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 more in southern Israel, is one area in which Sanders and the government vehemently disagree. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has come under heavy fire from Sanders for how he is handling the conflict and for the humanitarian problems that exist in Gaza.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is under the control of Hamas, over 35,000 people have died in Gaza. In addition to the death toll, a U.N. study from March 18 stated that a famine is “imminent,” and aid organizations believe that over 2 million people are at risk of starvation.
Incompatible with Israel’s military assistance policy
A Gallup poll conducted on March 27, one day before the Biden campaign’s fundraiser, revealed that 55% of Americans were against Israel’s military action. Democrats who stated the same thing in November last year made up 75% of the group, up from 63%.
In April, Biden signed a $95 billion law about foreign aid, of which $26 billion is allocated for Israel and humanitarian help for Gaza and other regions. Sanders cast a no vote on the proposal.
Sanders stated that although the funds have been authorized by Congress and the president’s signature, they have not yet been made available.
“The president needs to tell Netanyahu ‘you’re not going to get a nickel unless there is a huge and significant increase in humanitarian aid, that the potential of famine is ended tomorrow,” he added. “That we start having meaningful talks about a two-state solution and that you put an end to the horrible acts of the settlements on the West Bank. These are the steps you must take to obtain the money.”
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Since police attempted to break up an encampment at Columbia University in New York over two weeks ago, pro-Palestinian protest movements have surfaced around the nation. Since the beginning of the conflict, there have also been many documented cases of antisemitism on campuses.
Meanwhile, demonstrators who are students have voiced their worry that politicians frequently mistake criticism of Israel’s leadership with antisemitism. Netanyahu has called the demonstrators on college campuses “antisemitic mobs.”
The idea that voicing strong worries about the military automatically labels someone as anti-Semitic is something I vehemently oppose. That simply isn’t true, according to Sanders. “I find it outrageous that Netanyahu wants to hide the outrageous military behavior of his government behind the terrible image of antisemitism.”
He continued, saying that criticism of the Israeli government does not equate to anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic sentiment, just as criticism of the governments of Italy or Ireland does not equate to anti-Italian or anti-Irish sentiment.
Sanders did, however, concede that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are becoming more prevalent.
“It is unacceptable for protestors to target Muslim, Black, or LGBT students with bigotry or anti-Semitism,” the author says. A peace movement is not about that, he remarked. And I vehemently disagree with it.
“Mobilizing the American people is the solution.” Though that term has grown problematic these days, Biden has identified as a Zionist. Some claim they are anti-Zionist but not anti-Semites. How does Sanders interpret Zionism in his capacity as a Jewish lawmaker?
“I don’t waste time obsessing on the definition of the word. All I know is that the leadership in Israel at the moment is quite right-wing and includes some blatantly racist individuals,” he stated. “This war was initiated by the terrorist group Hamas. Israel is not entitled to wage war against the Palestinian people as a whole, even though it has the right to protect itself.”
Polls indicate that a number of Democratic party constituencies, including young voters, Black voters, and American Arab and Muslim voters, are dissatisfied with Biden’s position on Gaza. What will it take for the president to persuade these voters?” I think for a start, changing their policy to Netanyahu and Israel would be a good step forward,” stated the politician. “I believe that would be the first thing to do. Therefore, I believe that changing that is long overdue.”
Notwithstanding the discontent among voters, Biden’s endorsement by Sanders, the de facto head of the Democratic party’s left wing, suggests that choosing a president who “admires authoritarian leaders like Putin, who’s trying to undermine American democracy” is not the answer.
“The solution is to mobilize the American people, working-class people, Black, white, Latino, Native American, whatever they may be, to come together, to fight for a government, which represents all of us, and not just the few.”