How Bernie Should Respond to Incoming Attacks—Beginning Tonight

by

Tonight, in South Carolina, Bernie Sanders will occupy center stage as the clear front-runner in this year’s Democratic primary process—at least, so far. As such, he can expect an onslaught of attacks from rival candidates.

Many of those attacks will surely focus on his embrace of the democratic socialist label, and on his 40-year-old statements about some authoritarian regimes—statements that criticized those regimes as authoritarian but also hailed their achievements (or, in the case of Gorbachev’s USSR, its potential to democratize). He did himself no favors when he opted to deliver a mixed verdict on Cuba during his appearance Sunday on 60 Minutes.

What Bernie should make clear is that he’s actually one of the staunchest critics of today’s authoritarian regimes to be found in American politics. While President Trump swoons over a host of authoritarian thugs (North Korea’s Kim, Hungary’s Orban, Saudi Arabia’s MBS, China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin), and Mike Bloomberg sings the praises of China’s Leninist-capitalist surveillance-state dictators, Bernie has consistently attacked authoritarians of the left (like Venezuela’s Maduro), the right (Orban), and the hard-to-categorize (Xi). Indeed, he’s elevated the cause of democracy and human rights as no president has done since Jimmy Carter.

Surprisingly, even Jackson Diehl, The Washington Post’s deputy editorial page editor and chief foreign-affairs columnist—and no fan of Bernie in general—has written that Sanders stands out even in the Democratic field for his commitment to favoring democratic nations and movements, while opposing their authoritarian counterparts. Diehl also notes that Sanders doesn’t believe U.S. military intervention tends to foster democratic power in most instances, but as to Bernie’s small-d democratic commitments, Diehl concludes, America should have no doubts.

When he’s attacked tonight, Bernie has a clear opportunity to dispel those doubts—and he should take it.

You can count on the Prospect, can we count on you?

There's no paywall here. Your donations power our newsroom as we report on ideas, politics and power — and what’s really at stake as we navigate another presidential election year. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. Thank you!