Sanders: Trump inspires authoritarian leaders

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday said authoritarian leaders around the world “have drawn inspiration” from President Trump.

{mosads}Sanders, who was giving a speech on authoritarian threats at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, said the world is experiencing the “rise of a new authoritarian axis.”

“While this authoritarian trend certainly did not begin with Donald Trump, there’s no question that other authoritarian leaders around the world have drawn inspiration from the fact that the president of the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy is shattering democratic norms, is viciously attacking an independent media and an independent judiciary, and is scapegoating the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society,” Sanders said.

Bernie Sanders: “While this authoritarian trend certainly did not begin with Donald Trump, there’s no question that other authoritarian leaders around the world have drawn inspiration…” pic.twitter.com/vpBc0AHDnv

— The Hill (@thehill) October 9, 2018

Sanders said that Saudi Arabia in particular “is a country clearly inspired by Trump” and noted the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who is critical of the country’s government. 

Khashoggi went missing late last week after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials have said they believe the journalist was killed inside the facility, but Saudi officials have denied those allegations. 

“If this is true, if the Saudi regime murdered a journalist critic in their own consulate, there must be accountability, and there must be an unequivocal condemnation by the United States,” Sanders said. “But it seems clear that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman feels emboldened by the Trump administration’s unquestioning support.”

Sanders also said that “it’s hard to imagine” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be “aggressively undermining the longstanding goal of a two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if Netanyahu weren’t confident that Trump would support him.

Sanders also pointed to Trump’s friendly relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, among others who are known to lead brutal authoritarian regimes that silence critics.

He added that Trump’s refusal to fully acknowledge Russia’s interference in the 2016 election shows that Trump either doesn’t understand what happened, is under Russian influence or is “more sympathetic to Russia’s strongman form of government than he is to American democracy.”

The comments come as Sanders is set to embark on the campaign trail to stump for Democrats in the upcoming midterms.

His trip will also take him to important Democratic Primary states like Nevada and Iowa as the Senator mulls a possible bid for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump in 2020.