"This is what undermining democracy is about. This is what fascism is about," the Vermont senator said of Trump's lies about Kamala Harris' crowd sizes.

“Donald Trump may be crazy, but he’s not stupid. When he claims that ‘nobody’ showed up at a 10,000 person Harris-Walz rally in Michigan that was live-streamed and widely covered by the media, that it was all AI, and that Democrats cheat all of the time, there is a method to his madness,” Sanders said in a statement.

“Clearly, and dangerously, what Trump is doing is laying the groundwork for rejecting the election results if he loses,” he added. “If you can convince your supporters that thousands of people who attended a televised rally do not exist, it will not be hard to convince them that the election returns in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and elsewhere are ‘fake’ and ‘fraudulent.’”

[…]

“This is what destroying faith in institutions is about. This is what undermining democracy is about. This is what fascism is about,” he said of Trump’s campaign falsehoods. “This is why we must do everything we can to see that Trump is defeated.”

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1161·
    3 months ago

    He offers very little in the way of remedy.

    What do you do in a country with a two party system when one party is openly caught trying to cheat the election results? What do you do when that party loses and then accuses the other party of doing the same? What do you do with the millions of Americans who don’t trust the winning party to lead?

    The Dems’ answer seems to be capitulation. Give Republicans what they want to demonstrate bipartisanship. Put Republicans in your cabinet. Cherry pick “the good Republicans” and pretend they represent the secret heart of the rival party. Then compromise away every piece of legislation that becomes the subject of right wing hysterics.

    How do you govern like this? How do you govern in a country where one party can break the law with impunity absent any consequences? How do you govern when breaking the law gets your opposition rewarded whether or not you win on election day?

    • Nougat@fedia.io
      152·
      3 months ago

      The Right intends to play fuck around with the election.

      “How could the Democrats do this?”

      Go home Russian propaganda.

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
      66·
      3 months ago

      You seem to be ignoring the obvious here, this is intentional. The Democratic party leadership actually wants the same as the old Republicans. It’s just that the Overton Window has shifted so far to the right that we no longer see actual Left views to compare against anymore.

      And both parties are fine with using social issues to mask everything else because those are always in your face and easy to take a side one way or the other, and the two-party system excels at that.

      • Gsus4@mander.xyzOP
        6·
        3 months ago

        It’s always possible to go further left, but I think being pro-union, anti-trust, pro-regulation, pro-equality, pro-school meals is far enough left to qualify as left in the historical US political spectrum, no?

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        37·
        3 months ago

        The Democratic party leadership actually wants the same as the old Republicans.

        Careful, you’ll get called a Putinista Wumao Trump Bot Account for saying things like this.

        And both parties are fine with using social issues to mask everything else

        Social issues tend to be the symptom of underlaying economic issues. They’re just easier to talk about, because we can frame the discussion as “opportunity” and “freedom” rather than “economic restructuring” and “wealth redistribution”.

    • Josey_Wales@lemmy.world
      462·
      3 months ago

      This is why turnout matters. If enough people vote against Trump the mandate will restore faith in the election results. Harris/Waltz need to win with a clear mandate. If not we will still be dealing with MAGA going forward.