Bernie Sanders waving
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‘It’s not what if’: Bernie Sanders issues a grave warning about Donald Trump

Bernie Sanders isn’t here for Donald Trump’s lies. The former president is already trying to set the tone for the election, posting about “fraud” in the voting process. While that is his typical move, others like Sanders are taking the concern one step further.

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Senator Bernie Sanders spoke with Kaitlan Collins about the election and made his thoughts on the matter clear. Those thoughts are that Trump isn’t going to take it seriously. Meaning that Sanders thinks that no matter what, Trump will claim the election as his own by the end of the night, no matter what the votes are saying.

“It’s not ‘what if,’ Kaitlan. It is not ‘what if.’ He will,” Sanders said. “Everybody should be aware.” He went on to claim that Trump would call the race before it was done so that he could use voter fraud as his excuse for why he might lose a state or the race as a whole.

He told Collins that this was why he believed that Trump needed to lose. “That is what will happen,” Sanders said. “This is why he has got to lose, because this is exactly how you undermine democracy: ‘The only way I can lose is if there is fraud.’ Well, that means you can’t lose a legitimate election.”

Sanders saying “We have to be prepared for that” is ominous. But it isn’t unfounded.

It is Trump’s way

Think about the past two elections when we’ve had to deal with Trump counting on votes. He’s the first to call fraud when none exists and he uses his base to fight what he thinks is an injustice. We saw it with the 2020 election that led to the 2021 insurrection. So Sanders saying that Trump is someone who will try to call the race before it is over isn’t something out of left field.

We have seen it happen. In a dream world, we wouldn’t have ever given him the chance. But that’s just not the country we live in, unfortunately. As I am watching MSNBC’s coverage of the election, I listened to Nicole Wallace talk about the kind of man Trump is and she was right. She said that he will look at the results later this night and try to call it, just as Sanders did.

The reality is that it will take time to count all the votes in this country and hopefully our patience will benefit us in the long run. For now, we have to recognize that Sanders isn’t really speaking in hyperbole. He is reflecting back on how Trump has acted in the past.

He is the kind of man who would call a race he was far from winning and that’s a reality everyone has to think about. We might end up right back where we were after the 2020 election and it is terrifying to think about but hopefully, the election is over sooner rather than later and with a result that will leave Trump and his lackies in the dusk.


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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.