Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders doesn’t think much of a recent slew of tweets unleashed by President-elect Trump. During a Tuesday appearance on Conan , Bernie Sanders publicly criticized the Trump tweet phenomenon, calling some of the recently tweeted messages coming from the newly-elected politician’s social media account both “insane” and “delusional.”
As Entertainment Weekly reports, Bernie Sanders talked Trump tweets with host Conan O’Brien, discussing the online communication that Donald Trump has recently used to talk trash on flag burners, the U.S. voting system, the mainstream media and even the wildly popular Broadway musical, Hamilton.
When talking about a Trump tweet related to the popular vote, Sanders pulled no punches. In the tweet in question, President-elect Trump was attempting to address his staggering popular vote loss to Hillary Clinton. Recent vote counts put Trump more than 2 million votes behind his Democratic rival, making him the least popular presidential election victor in nearly two centuries. Trump took to Twitter to explain what he believes happened.
In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
According to Trump, he didn’t lose the popular vote at all, at least among American citizens. Bernie Sanders took deep offense to that Trump tweet, and candidly addressed the POTUS-elect’s Twitter claim.
“It’s delusional, it’s totally insane.”
Senator Sanders went on to try to interpret Trump’s twitter claim, calling it a “signal” to “suppress the vote.”
“When he says that, he’s really sending a signal to Republicans all over the country, and what he’s saying is, we have got to suppress the vote.We have got to make it harder for poor people, for people of color, immigrants, elderly people, to participate because they may be voting against us. And that’s scary stuff.”
Bernie Sanders Breaks Down Trump’s Tweets, Explains Why We Should Fear For Our Lives (VIDEO) https://t.co/xDDXWX9AID
— The Politicus (@ThePoliticus) November 30, 2016
After discussing the alleged voter fraud-related Trump tweet, Bernie Sanders and host Conan went on to discuss the tweet from the President-elect that has taken the last couple of days by storm. The tweet, which deals with flag burning and what Donald thinks should be the consequences for engaging in the controversial form of protest, took fire immediately after it was tweeted in the wee morning hours of November 29.
In the Trump tweet, the President-elect calls for incredibly harsh punishments for flag burners; anything from incarceration to a loss of citizenship, despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that flag burning is Constitutionally protected free speech. Here’s what Trump had to say about it that got everybody so riled up.
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
During the Tuesday night show, Conan O’Brien mentioned the controversial tweet to Senator Sanders, and (not surprisingly), the outspoken Vermont politician had plenty to say about it. None of it flattering.
According to Bernie Sanders, the 140-character statement had a much deeper message than what meets the eye. Bernie told Conan that the Trump tweet was a veiled threat to potential dissenters and that it was intended to send a message to people that disagree with the President-elect that they are being watched.
“There’s a hidden message in that, and that is be careful if you are prepared to dissent. The Supreme Court has said that that is within constitutional framework, that that’s a form of expression. It’s not just the American flag here, we’re watching you. That’s what’s scary about that.”
WE the people of the LGBTQ community cannot move specifically because Trump won its time to #resist #trump
— GAYBC NEWS (@gaybcnewsradio) November 30, 2016
He’s not wrong…
— Brent Wittman (@jonbrent13) November 30, 2016
Insanity is attempting the same thing over and over expecting different results. You know, like Socialism. ?
— Nebraska Dave West (@Nebraska_Dave) November 30, 2016
Sanders is partly responsible for Trump’s win. For me he has no credibility whatsoever.
— Jack Patterson (@JacquotLeGrand) November 30, 2016
Discussing the flag burning tweet, Bernie also chided the President-elect for focusing his efforts on something as arbitrary as burning the American flag when there are much more pressing issues facing the American people, including 43 million living in poverty.
Bernie Sanders explains the “hidden message” in Trump’s “totally insane” tweets on ‘Conan.’ https://t.co/fZkJCPziEv pic.twitter.com/vrTRn9krYw
— Complex (@Complex) November 30, 2016
After specifically talking about the “insane and delusional” Trump tweets, Senator Sanders spoke about his heartfelt concerns for the American people and way of life under the rule of President Trump. According to Bernie Sanders, Trump used his presidential campaign and his ongoing tweet habit to divide America and Americans along racial and religious lines.
Romney was right. Trump sends out delusional tweets about people voting illegally but nothing about promises he made to help working people. https://t.co/hBBswBKJjo
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 30, 2016
After his appearance on Conan, Bernie Sanders sent out a tweet of his own, calling out Donald Trump directly about his “delusional” tweets and broken promises.
[Featured Image by mpi04/MediaPunch/IPX/AP Images]
