Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:57 pm
Some of the media’s pro-Trump bias was on full display as Bernie Sanders was attacked during an interview on ABC’s This Week for telling the truth about Donald Trump’s dangerous ideas.
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Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Some of you know I’m Jewish. My dad came — my father came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. He came over; other people in his family did not come over. Most people died. Children died. Relatives of my father.
So that is in my heart to see what a lunatic can do by stirring up racial hatred. And we’re not going to allow that to take place in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Bernie Sanders in Milwaukee last night. He joins us live this morning.
Senator Sanders, thanks for joining us this morning. We’ve talked to you many times about Donald Trump. You’ve called him a liar, you’ve called him a nutcase. Now comparing him to Hitler?
SANDERS: Oh no, no, there’s nothing to do — no, that’s not right. What I talked about there was a Muslim woman there next to me, and she is telling me that, what is true, is that people in the Muslim community are very fearful now. She was describing a kid who now locks the door at night.
And what I was saying is I’m going to do everything that I can to kind of stop those Islamophobic attacks so that kids in this country who happen to be Muslim are afraid. No, I did not compare Trump to Hitler. But I will do everything that I can to stop this type of hatred and hate talk that we are hearing.
Of course, Sanders wasn’t comparing Trump to Hitler. What he was doing was highlighting the fact that the kind of deport all the Mexicans and ban the Muslims rhetoric would have on Americans if the Republican frontrunner were ever in a position to put his ideas into action. Sen. Sanders did call Trump a lunatic, which judging from the polling, is a characterization that a large number of Americans would agree with.
What Stephanopoulos did was a perfect example of how the media elevates Trump’s ramblings to the height of policy and then attacks anyone who points out that Donald Trump might very well be crazy.
Donald Trump is running a campaign of racism, sexism, and bigotry, yet, it was Bernie Sanders who was attacked for suggesting that the kind of authoritarian ideas that Trump was floating are dangerous to the country. The media needs to stop calling Trump’s ideas policies. Donald Trump doesn’t propose policies. He has never once explained in detail how he would build his wall, send undocumented people back to Mexico, or ban all Muslims. Trump spews buzz words and dog whistles that appeal to a segment of the far right. Donald Trump doesn’t do policy.
Many people have compared to Trump to Hitler, but Bernie Sanders did not. Both Democratic presidential candidates have been dealing with the unlevel pro-Trump media playing field all through the presidential campaign, but attacking Bernie Sanders for pointing out how Trump’s bigotry could impact Muslim-Americans was a new low for the corporate media.
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
