Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:57 pm
Bernie Sanders didn’t pull any punches when he put the blame squarely on the media for propping up Republicans while calling the GOP a joke during his interview with Rachel Maddow.
Transcript via MSNBC:
SANDERS: Well, uh, first of all, I don’t necessarily take at value — face value what they say. I think at the end of the day, they probably will come together.
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But the other point, I think the more — the deeper point, Rachel, is the Republican Party today has moved very, very far to the right. Uh, they are way out of touch with where the American people are.
And I think if we had a media in this country that was really prepared to look at what the Republicans actually stood for rather than quoting every absurd remark of Donald Trump, talking about Republican Party, talking about hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks for the top two tenths of 1 percent, cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, a party which with few exceptions, doesn’t even acknowledge the reality of climate change, let alone do anything about it, a party which is not prepared to stand with women in the fight for pay equity, a party that is not prepared to do anything about a broken criminal justice system or a corrupt campaign finance system, I think, to be honest with you — and I just don’t, you know, say this rhetorically, this is a fringe party. It is a fringe party. Maybe they get 5, 10 percent of the vote.
What you really need in this country is a progressive party standing with the working class and the middle class of this country. And yes, a conservative party that, you know, has, you know, is more fiscally conservative. That is where we should be as a country.
But the Republican Party today now is a joke, maintained by a media which really does not force them to discuss their issues.
So that — that’s my two cents on that.
The disgust with the media and the Republican Party that Sen. Sanders expressed is shared by millions of Americans. Most politicians and elected officials won’t say it, but Republicans are being propped up by a media that refuses to do their jobs. Chris Matthews dug deeper into Trump during an MSNBC town hall, and the Republican frontrunner fell apart.
Part of the responsibility for the extremism in the Republican Party rests with the media. Republicans have been allowed to move towards extremism without being pushed by the media. They hide on Fox News and never face real questions. The media has enabled the Republican Party by being so frightened of losing access to Donald Trump or whoever the Republican flavor of the week is that they engage in constant false equivalencies.
Bernie Sanders was right on the money. The former Party of Lincoln is now a fringe party that appeals to older, white, conservative voters. IF Republicans lose the 2016 election, they will not have won a national election in 12 years.
Sen. Sanders went there, and in the process told the truth about how the corporate media is propping up and keeping the failed Republican Party alive.
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.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
