Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) lashed out at Republican leaders Monday on ABC’s The View, accusing them of “fomenting hatred” in their response to the recent “No Kings” protests targeting President Donald Trump. Sanders claimed the protests were a defense of constitutional freedoms, not an attack on America.
The exchange began when co-host Ana Navarro criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson for calling the protests a “hate America rally,” and President Trump for sharing an AI-generated video depicting protesters being doused in sewage. Navarro also referenced White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s remarks that labeled Democrats as a coalition of “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals.”
Sanders responded, “I think they are fomenting hatred,” pointing directly at Speaker Johnson’s remarks. “Why do people come out? They came out to defend the Constitution of the United States, to defend basic freedoms.”
He continued, claiming the “No Kings” demonstrations were a rejection of authoritarianism and illegal use of federal power. “You cannot send the military into Portland, Oregon. You cannot take people off the street with masked men, throw them into vans, and deport them to South Sudan,” Sanders said, referencing Trump-era law enforcement tactics.
Sanders added that America was built on the sacrifice of citizens defending liberty and accused Trump of threatening those principles. “Millions of men and women… have put their lives on the line to defend freedom,” he said. “We will not give more and more power to one person who in many minds is a megalomaniac, a pathological liar.”
Sanders characterized the “No Kings” protests as peaceful resistance against what he views as authoritarian overreach, calling it a stand for democracy rather than an act of hate.
