Sanders: Trump Is an Authoritarian Who May Let Musk Take the Wheel

Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders issued a strong warning against a second Trump administration on Sunday, portraying him as an authoritarian who might let billionaire Elon Musk control his government and would be even worse than the Biden-Harris administration when it comes to enabling Israel's war on Gaza.

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sanders agreed that it was accurate to describe former U.S. President Donald Trump as a fascist.

"Clearly he has a strong, strong tendency toward authoritarianism, and to undermining American democracy," Sanders said.

"What really interests me is if, God forbid, Trump were to win, whether it would be Elon Musk running the government, and Trump working for him, or the other way around."

Sanders' remarks came when host Kristen Welker asked him if he agreed with recent statements by Vice President Kamala Harris and former Trump White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that Trump was a fascist.

At first, Sanders said he didn't like to use that phrasing, but when pressed further said, "You can describe him as a fascist."

Sanders emphasized Trump's role in inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, and said there was a reason why his former Vice President Mike Pence and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would not support his 2024 election bid.

"It is because they understand that Trump is an authoritarian, does not believe in the rule of law, and for 100 reasons is unfit to be president of the United States," Sanders explained.

Welker then showed Sanders a video clip from Uncommitted National Movement co-founder Layla Elabed, in which Elabed said that Harris had not earned her vote because she had refused to adopt a more humanitarian approach to Israel's assault on Gaza, which has killed nearly 43,000 and wounded over 100,000 according to official figures.

"It seems the signal we've gotten from her and her campaign is that she is willing to risk a battleground state like Michigan by continuing to alienate young people, Arab Americans, and Muslim Americans," Elabed said.

Sanders acknowledged the devastation wrought by Israel in Gaza as well as his disagreements with the Biden administration's approach.

"My own view has been that the United States should not continue to provide financial aid or offensive weapons to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's right-wing, extremist government," Sanders said.

However, he continued, "Trump is even worse on this issue."

"I can tell you we are desperately trying at the very least to get humanitarian aid, to feed starving children, into Gaza," he said.

While Harris and President Joe Biden support sending aid, Sanders added, "We can't even get Republicans to feed the kids who are in desperate shape."

Finally, Welker asked Sanders about revelations from The Wall Street Journal this week that Trump supporter and richest man in the world Elon Musk is in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite having access to classified U.S. government information as a federal contractor.

Sanders said Musk's communication with Putin was "inappropriate," but had a deeper concern about Musk's role in a potential Trump administration.

"What really interests me is if, God forbid, Trump were to win, whether it would be Elon Musk running the government, and Trump working for him, or the other way around," Sanders said.

He continued: "The idea that you have somebody like Musk who has massive amounts of federal contracts, campaigning hard, putting huge amounts of money into Trump's campaign, man if there's ever been a conflict of interest, that's it."

Sanders' warning about Musk's influence comes the same day as the Tesla CEO is scheduled to headline a Trump rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden. Musk has recently come under fire for offering to pay $1 million a day to a select registered voter in a swing state who signs a petition hosted by his super PAC, which one legal expert described as "clearly illegal vote-buying."