Bernie Sanders cautioned authoritarianism 'may be on the march' shortly after inauguration,

[Uncle Joe]

book reveals

In the early days of President Biden's tenure, not too long after the Jan. 6 Captiol riot, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) attended a meeting in the Oval Office alongside a group of leading Senate Democrats — one in which he almost "immediately raised the stakes," Jewish Insider writes per Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's upcoming book Peril.

"If we cannot deliver, authoritarianism may be on the march," Sanders told Biden, according to an account of the meeting detailed in Peril. The Vermont senator then argued the party badly needed to pass a major rescue bill and show working-class voters, lured away from the party, that Democrats could change their lives for the better.

"The future of democracy depends on which party is the party of the working class," said Sanders, as paraphrased by Woodward and Costas.

After the meeting, Sanders reportedly turned to his colleagues, invoking the Holocaust and Germany in the 1930s, per Jewish Insider. "Germany was one of the most cultured countries in Europe. One of the most advanced countries. So how could a country of Beethoven, of so many great poets and writers, and Einstein, progress to [barbarism]?"

"How does that happen?" he reportedly wondered. "We have to tackle that question. And it's not easy." Read more at Jewish Insider.

https://news.yahoo.com/bernie-sanders-cautioned-authoritarianism-may-213034491.html

https://jewishinsider.com/2021/09/peril-bernie-sanders-authoritarianism/

[MontanaFarmer]

1. Well, he's not wrong.

He's not overestimating the stakes. I see it slightly differently than he does; while i agree that working people need to see there's someone fighting for them, i think the larger issue is the undermining of democracy itself, the right to vote, the count of the vote, etc. That's creating space for a frenzied, authoritarian minority to win, potentially, and i realize we got through it once but i wouldn't bet we would again.

[colsohlibgal]

2. Agree

We are so close. There is maybe 20% or more who are far right racist/Anti Semites. They have the guns because of the NRA and our not well thought out 2nd Amendment.

A Scary time indeed.

[Beastly Boy]

3. This makes me five years ahead of Bernie

https://democraticunderground.com/10141466275

Trump: If I’m Elected, GOP Will Become A 'Worker’s Party'
Source: TPM

“Five, 10 years from now—different party,” Trump told Bloomberg Politics during an extended sit-down folded within the magazine’s profile on Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus. “You’re going to have a worker’s party."

snip

Trump's comments immediately caught attention on social media, given that "worker's party” is a term adopted by many left-wing socialist political organizations. The term has also been used by right-wing groups like the National Socialist German Worker's Party, or Nazi Party.

In the Bloomberg interview, Trump outlined a new vision for the GOP vastly different from the laissez-faire, hawkish, inclusive-to-minorities plan the party set forth after losing the 2012 presidential election. Trump’s Republican Party would restrict free trade, protect Social Security and push the U.S. to turn inwards.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-gop-workers-party

-------------------------------------------------------

I don't know about the Hillary and Bernie bashers, but this is getting too close for comfort for me.

Time to stop playing games and face the ugly.

including my response #16 in the same thread:

16. At this point, I am not entertaining any suggestions other than what our not too distant history suggests. We've been through this before, and we know where it ends. Other than fighting tooth and nail to prevent this from happening, however small the chances, any political rivalries fall under my category of playing games."

So glad to see Bernie on the same page.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Nobody said this was Bernie's first time of believing or stating this

It's his advice to President Biden as written in Woodward and Costa's book; Peril early in his tenure right after the insurrection.

I thought this was especially relevant with the reconciliation bill being debated.

"The future of democracy depends on which party is the party of the working class," said Sanders, as paraphrased by Woodward and Costas.

After the meeting, Sanders reportedly turned to his colleagues, invoking the Holocaust and Germany in the 1930s, per Jewish Insider. "Germany was one of the most cultured countries in Europe. One of the most advanced countries. So how could a country of Beethoven, of so many great poets and writers, and Einstein, progress to [barbarism]?"

[Beastly Boy]

5. The quote from "Peril" refers to the time "early days of President Biden's tenure",

when Sanders suggested that "authoritarianism MAY be on the march". It was maybe on the march five years ago, and now it is here to stay. No maybes about it. A 20/20 hindsight.

I don't recall Bernie mentioning the perils of authoritarianism between the 2016 primaries and President Biden's inauguration, in any context. I would be very much relieved, and I would thank you personally, were you to prove me wrong with a contemporaneous Bernie quote.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Here you go

Sanders calls for party unity to prevent ‘authoritarianism’
August 18, 2020

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders is imploring his supporters to vote for Joe Biden, suggesting that without a unified Democratic Party, years of gains by the progressive movement could be lost and that the country may not even survive four more years of President Donald Trump.

“At its most basic, this election is about preserving our democracy,” the Vermont senator said Monday night, in his opening night speech at the virtual Democratic National Convention. “During this president’s term, the unthinkable has become normal.”

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-election-2020-vt-state-wire-mn-state-wire-health-b9e26befa1f3e0bec61426163893faed

Bernie Sanders Slams Trump for Threatening the “Bedrock of American Democracy”
PUBLISHED 2:43 PM ET SEP. 24, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to Senator Bernie Sanders, the upcoming election is not simply Donald Trump versus Joe Biden, but authoritarianism versus democracy.

What You Need To Know
Sen. Bernie Sanders claimed the upcoming election is a referendum on American democracy in a fiery speech on Thursday

Sanders' address came after President Trump would not commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose the November elections

Sanders called on his Republican colleagues to condemn Trump's statement

Several Republicans including Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney have since spoken out on the president's comments

(snip)

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2020/09/24/bernie-sanders-slams-trump-election-outcome-claims

A new authoritarian axis demands an international progressive front
Thu 13 Sep 2018


There is a global struggle taking place of enormous consequence. Nothing less than the future of the planet – economically, socially and environmentally – is at stake.

At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, when the world’s top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 99%, we are seeing the rise of a new authoritarian axis.

While these regimes may differ in some respects, they share key attributes: hostility toward democratic norms, antagonism toward a free press, intolerance toward ethnic and religious minorities, and a belief that government should benefit their own selfish financial interests. These leaders are also deeply connected to a network of multi-billionaire oligarchs who see the world as their economic plaything.

(snip)

It should be clear by now that Donald Trump and the rightwing movement that supports him is not a phenomenon unique to the United States. All around the world, in Europe, in Russia, in the Middle East, in Asia and elsewhere we are seeing movements led by demagogues who exploit people’s fears, prejudices and grievances to achieve and hold on to power.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/ng-interactive/2018/sep/13/bernie-sanders-international-progressive-front

Will this suffice or would you need more?

[Beastly Boy]

7. I am impressed.I wasn't aware that Bernie spoke in recognition of dangers of authoritarianism as

early as 2018, nearly two years before Trump's authoritarian impulses became inescapably clear to everyone. This tells me that Bernie entered the 2020 primaries with full awareness of what's at stake. I had concerns about this, which you now put to rest. This explains, at least to me, Bernie's uncharacteristic post-primary shift from confrontation to cooperation with mainstream Democrats in 2020, and why I like the post-2020 Bernie a lot more than the pre-2020 Bernie. I had an impression that this turnaround on Bernie's part had to do with him eventually getting the chairmanship of the Budget Committee, but I am sure glad to learn that it is the result of something much deeper than transactional politics.

The 2018 Guardian article also hints that Bernie's recognition of Trump, not Biden, to be the real competitor for Bernie's populist appeal is not as recent as the link in your OP might suggest. His reference to the early 1930's Germany is telling too: it was the time when right wing populism prevailed over left wing populism, assumed championship of working class grievances and used it as pretext to destroy the centrist constitutional government of the Weimar Republic. The parallels are frightening indeed.

Thanks for the links, Uncle Joe, they put quite a few things in perspective for me.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

8. K&R