Sanders won’t label Trump a ‘fascist,’ calls him ‘authoritarian’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declined to call former President Trump a “fascist” but referred to him as an “authoritarian” in an interview Sunday.

“I don't like using those words, but clearly he has a strong, strong tendency to authoritarianism and to undermining American democracy,” Sanders said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” when asked whether he thinks Trump is a fascist.

“Look, this is a guy who provoked an insurrection in January — Jan. 6, 2021 — to prevent, in the first time in American history, a peaceful transfer of power. So does Donald Trump believe in democracy, believe in the rule of law?”

Sanders pointed to prominent Republicans who are not supporting the former president’s bid for the White House and said it’s because Trump “is an authoritarian.”

“There is a reason,” Sanders said, “why his own vice president for four years, Mike Pence, says he is not supporting Donald Trump. Why Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate, not supporting Donald Trump. And it's not because of policy issues.”

“It is because they understand that Trump is an authoritarian, does not believe in the rule of law, and for one hundred reasons is unfit to be president of the United States,” Sanders continued.

Vice President Harris agreed at a CNN town hall Wednesday that she believes presidential election opponent is a fascist, but she avoided using the word directly as a label for him, instead saying, “Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” when asked if she thinks he’s a fascist.

Her remarks followed similar comments from Trump’s former White House chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, who said recently that Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of a fascist.” Former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Gen. Mark Milley, also called Trump “a total fascist” in a recent report.

Kristen Welker, in the interview with Sanders on Sunday, pressed again about Harris’s use of the term fascist to describe the former president, asking whether he thinks it was a mistake for her to do so at the town hall.

“Well, look, he is an auth — call it what you want. This is a guy who does not believe in democracy, who is trying to divide us up. You can describe him as a fascist. You can describe them as an authoritarian,” Sanders said. “But to my mind, and what I focus on, is what's happening to the working class in this country.”

The Hill reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.