Bernie Sanders isn't 'comfortable' about Trump's ban from Twitter: 'Tomorrow it could be somebody else'
One can argue that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former President Donald J Trump have almost nothing in common when it comes to poltics, but the two populist leaders may have finally found common ground when it comes to big tech censorship and Twitter's Trump ban.
The 45th POTUS was arguably one of the most prolific users of the social media platform before he was permanently suspended following the January 6 Capitol riots. The unprecedented move of muzzling the leader of the free world was looked down on by many on either side of the political aisle, eliciting allegations of Twitter's apparent left-leaning bias and political censorship.
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While very few liberals condemned the move publicly at the time, outspoken Trump critic Sanders told New York Times columnist Ezra Klein on Tuesday that he didn't feel "particularly comfortable" that a sitting US President was barred from expressing his views and opinions on a popular public platform.
"Look, you have a racist, sexist, xenophobe, pathological liar, an authoritarian ... a bad news guy," Sanders said. "But if you're asking me do I feel particularly comfortable that the then president of the United States could not express his views on Twitter? I don't feel comfortable about that."
Sanders admitted that social media shouldn't serve as a platform "for authoritarian purposes and insurrection," but maintained that Trump's ban was something "we have got to be thinking about, because if anybody who thinks yesterday it was Donald Trump who was banned and tomorrow it could be somebody else who has a very different point of view."
Furthermore, the Vermont senator also said he wasn't comfortable that a "handful of high tech people" were making their own distinctions between free speech and dangerous rhetoric for millions of users on their respective platforms.
Sanders voiced his concerns just days after Trump senior adviser Jason Miller confirmed the former president's plans to return to social media with his own platform. According to Miller, Trump has been having "high-powered meetings" at Mar-a-Lago regarding the venture, and "numerous companies" have approached the former president to help him materialize his plans.
Trump, however, did not confirm reports that he's all set to make a social media comeback. On the other hand, he said he's enjoyed mailing press releases more than his former Twitter feed. Speaking to Newsmax's Greg Kelly on Monday, he said: "We have a lot of options and something will happen with social media if I want it to happen."
“I have tremendous options because you know I had probably 200 — more than 200 million people when you add it all up, and that’s a lot. That’s record-setting stuff and all of a sudden they decide, it’s too many people, and so they cut it off," the 45th POTUS boasted to the Newsmax host. He then added he was enjoying the break from the social media platforms after his account was permanently suspended following the Capitol riots on January 6. He said the tech giants had done him "a favor."
Trump may have remained quiet on the subject, but there was enough from Miller to suggest the former president could make a huge comeback in the near future. "This is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media," Miller told Fox News. "It's going to completely redefine the game, and everybody is going to be waiting and watching to see what President Trump does, but it will be his own platform...Everyone wants him and he's going to bring millions and millions, tens of millions to this platform," he insisted.