Bernie Sanders Gives Brutal Description of Biden in Damning Interview

Senator Bernie Sanders basically admitted that President Biden is declining, but said he will support him anyway.

In an interview with The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, the Vermont senior senator confessed Biden “sometimes [gets] confused about names.”

“You’re right—sometimes he doesn’t put three sentences together. It is true,” Sanders told Chotiner, before adding a big caveat.

“But the reality of the moment is, in my view, he is the best candidate the Democrats have for a variety of reasons, and trying, in an unprecedented way, to take him off the ticket would do a lot more harm than good,” Sanders added.

Sanders spoke about how impressed he has been with Biden’s record in office, but didn’t entirely dismiss the question over whether Biden could serve as president for another four years.

“Look, I have concerns about everything, you know? And everybody should have concerns about everything. As a nation, we do a very poor job, both in Congress and in the media, of focusing on issues that impact the working class,” Sanders said, dodging the question. “So I would much prefer to have somebody who can’t put three sentences together who is setting forth an agenda that speaks to the needs of working-class people.”

When Chotiner described Biden as having “trouble completing a single sentence,” Sanders replied simply, “He does.”

Still, Sanders said that he’d prefer Biden stay despite showing signs of decline. It is a candid description of Biden that one would not hear from any of the president’s other supporters, and that is probably because of Sanders’s outsider reputation as an avowed socialist and independent in the Senate.

Unlike Biden’s other supporters, Sanders isn’t just offering warnings about the dangers of convicted felon Donald Trump returning to the White House, with Project 2025 in tow. He is steadfastly defending Biden’s record over his nearly four years as president, with some criticisms.

“My supporters are very upset, and justifiably so, at the President for his position on the war in Gaza. And I pointed that out in my op-ed. I think what’s going on there is a humanitarian horror show. I think Netanyahu should not get another nickel, but that is not the White House’s position,” Sanders said.

As the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party’s left wing, Sanders’s opinions likely are the same as many other progressives who profess their support for Biden staying on, including some members of the “Squad.” But they are being outflanked by a growing number of Democrats to their right who are calling for Biden to step down, who have renewed their efforts  in recent days. While intraparty tension is often a cliché, the fact is that in order for the Democrats to present a unified front against Trump and the Republicans, these tensions will have to be resolved and fast, with or without Biden.

While speaking at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, J.D. Vance appeared to be shilling Trump businesses.

“President Trump obviously is one of the most successful real estate executives in the history of our country,” said Trump’s recently crowned running mate. “Of course, the Trump name became synonymous with luxury and beauty in the real estate world.”

Fact-check for Vance: Trump’s companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at least six times. Trump’s businesses, especially his real estate ventures, have ended with billions of dollars lost and literally blown up in smoke. Take Trump Plaza as just one example, which was one of the worst-performing casinos in Atlantic City and was demolished after the city offered bidders a chance to destroy the eyesore. As Trump operated that casino into the ground, his workers lost millions of dollars in retirement savings. Before becoming president, Trump regularly engaged in fraud and tax evasion to make his millions.

Trump probably should have declared bankruptcy again, after losing the New York fraud case against him and the Trump Organization earlier this year. But according to reports, he was too afraid doing so would make him look like a loser.

In case Vance doesn’t know, it is a violation of ethics rules to exploit public office for private gain, which can be found in the emoluments clause in the Constitution.

When Trump was first elected in 2016, he vowed to abide by the Constitution and keep his business and his presidency separate. He did not follow through on that promise; a Citizens for Ethics report found 3,403 conflicts of interest back in 2020, which included holding political events at his properties and hosting politicians, foreign officials, and special interest groups at his businesses.

Vance seems to be following cues from his predecessors. In the early days of Trump’s first term, Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer came under fire from the House Oversight Committee for promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing line.

Judge Aileen Cannon may have dismissed Donald Trump’s classified documents case, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s office filed Wednesday to appeal the decision. That will take the case back to court—but this time, away from Cannon’s hands and to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which has repeatedly shut down Cannon’s previous ridiculous moves. But the future of the case may still be up in the air.

Cannon made no mention of the case’s merit in her decision to strike it down, but instead pointed at Smith’s assignment to the case as her reason for dismissing it. In a 93-page decision, the Trump-appointed judge argued that the case had leveraged an expired statute—the Independent Counsel Act—as the foundation for Smith’s appointment, and that Smith’s work on the case was thereby invalid and unconstitutional.

That notion had previously been elevated by just one Supreme Court member—Justice Clarence Thomas—who wrote in a concurring opinion in Trump’s immunity ruling on July 1 that “if there is no law establishing the office that the Special Counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution.”

Legal experts have since roundly criticized her decision, including former Trump attorney Ty Cobb, who argued that there were mountains of legal precedent behind Smith’s appointment. But that detail will heavily complicate hearings before the Eleventh Circuit, so much so that Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel, has floated the idea of starting the whole case from scratch using regular Justice Department lawyers.

But whether the government decides to follow through with the appeal or start all over again, the odds that the case will be tried before the November election—when Trump could win back the White House and potentially wipe the federal charges from his plate—are slim to none.

Trump faced 42 felony charges in the case related to willful retention of national security information, corruptly concealing documents, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

For months, Cannon had been accused of slow-walking the trial in a not-so-subtle effort to postpone it indefinitely. After spending considerable time in hearings dedicated to third-party complaints, Cannon began hearing arguments in June over whether Smith’s appointment to the case was constitutional.

President Joe Biden is hearing calls to withdraw from the presidential race from a new source: major Democratic Party donors.

The New York Times reports that several of the richest contributors to Democrats around the country are trying to use their money to leverage support against Biden staying in the race.

“If you don’t publicly call for Biden to step aside, you are not getting a dime from me,” said Tom Strickler, the founder of Hollywood talent agency WME, to New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich’s team last Thursday. Strickler said he had been planning to financially support seven of the most vulnerable Democratic senators, but would not be doing so because they still backed Biden’s candidacy.

“It’s a message that I’ve encouraged my friends to send as well,” Strickler said. “If you back Biden, you will lose our support. Over and out.”

Strickler is one of the few donors willing to oppose Biden publicly, including Hollywood banker Joe Ravitch. Other high-profile Democratic donors, including Henry Laufer, Marilyn Simmons, and Haim Saban all wouldn’t comment to the Times.

According to the Times, many of these donors, while committed to replacing Biden, aren’t sure about the best way to do so. While Strickler is holding back on donations, others are leery about bringing on a backlash against wealthy elites. They also aren’t sure who to reach out to in Biden’s inner circle, and whether money is even the best means of persuasion.

“I can’t figure out who—if anyone—has influence over this, but donors certainly don’t, regardless of what we do,” said Ravitch. “And to speak out publicly against the president only helps undermine him. It’s a catch-22.”

Prior to Saturday’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, several Democrats were calling for Biden to drop out of the race. Those calls had paused after Saturday but now are back in earnest with Representative Adam Schiff becoming the latest to join the movement. Efforts to fast-track Biden’s nomination are also facing a backlash. Biden is now being asked to drop out from multiple sources—but will any of them persuade him?

Starbucks made headlines Tuesday night when social media users pointed out that the coffee company was listed as a corporate sponsor for the Republican National Convention.

“After years of identifying as a progressive employer, Starbucks is now sponsoring the Republican National Convention,” read one since-deleted viral post on X (formerly Twitter).

The Hill picked up the story with the headline “Starbucks sponsors Republican National Convention.” The story has also since been deleted.

In reality, Starbucks was listed as a sponsor for the Milwaukee Host Committee for the RNC, not the RNC itself. Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson clarified that the company had not donated any money to the convention.

“We are not providing a cash sponsorship of any kind,” Anderson said in an email to The New Republic. Instead of financial support, Starbucks is “providing in-kind support directly to the MKE 2024 Host Committee by providing coffee onsite to the first responders who are serving the city during the convention.”

Cops, such as the out-of-town police officers who shot and killed an armed man outside the RNC Tuesday afternoon, can access Starbucks coffee and other beverages at the five RNC venues in Milwaukee.

On the Milwaukee Host Committee’s website, the union-busting company’s logo is pictured next to far-right groups like Turning Point USA, The Heritage Foundation, Rumble, and more.

“The Host Committee is proud to have several partners who are supporting our mission to promote Milwaukee to the world,” Evan Hafenbreadl of the Milwaukee Host Committee said in a statement to The New Republic.

As expressed on its website, the Milwaukee Host Committee is a “nonpartisan entity created to work with the City of Milwaukee in preparing for and successfully producing the Republican National Committee (RNC) convention.”

In its statement, Starbucks clarified that it will provide the same services at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago. “Our support of first responders and volunteers at the conventions is an extension of our ongoing commitment to the communities where we operate—which includes Milwaukee and Chicago,” wrote Anderson.

In 2016, Starbucks also provided support for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland by keeping its downtown stores open 24/7 during the event.

Starbucks Workers United had no comment for The New Republic.