In a nearly nine-minute video posted to X on Thursday, Senator Bernie Sanders told his supporters that while he believes Joe Biden’s response to Gaza has been “dead wrong,“ and he has “disagreements” with the president on some other issues, “it’s important to take a minute to think about what a [Donald] Trump presidency would mean to our country and, in fact, the world.” Then he went onto describe the hell Americans—and people all over the globe—would live in should Trump win a second term in November.

“If Trump is elected in November, the fight against climate change is over and the people of this planet will have lost,” Sanders tells viewers. “If Trump is elected in November, the already obscene levels we are experiencing of wealth inequality will only get worse. If Donald Trump is elected in November, he and the Republican Party will escalate the attacks on women’s reproductive health in the country...If Donald Trump is elected in November, and I say this with a heavy heart, but it is likely that the 250 year experiment of American democracy is all but over...We have got to do everything we can to defeat Donald Trump and reelect Joe Biden.”

“The next several months will be the most important in modern American history,” Sanders says. “Yes, Donald Trump is a pathological liar, he’s a racist, sexist, xenophobe, homophobe and a religious bigot. Yup, Donald Trump has denied the election defeat that he experienced and is undermining democracy every single day, peddling conspiracy theories and converting the Republican Party into the cult of the individual. He’s encouraged violence and the never before seen use of the military and federal agents against US citizens. But if you believe Donald Trump’s first term was dangerous, I want you to think for a moment about what a second term would look like.”

Like the Senator from Vermont, many have warned that Trump’s authoritarian plans for a second term will make his first look quaint. Among other things, the ex-president vowed to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American History,” and just this month, he said his administration would order mass deportations on “day one.” He’s also suggested he’s open to federal abortion ban; told gun owners “no one will lay a finger on your firearms”; vowed to prosecute his enemies; said he’ll cut federal funding for schools that teach critical race theory or what he calls “transgender insanity”; and pledged to pardon people convicted of taking part in January 6.

So the fact that he’s currently polling ahead of the guy who hasn’t pledged to do any of that is more than a little disconcerting!

Trump continues streak of never being held accountable for anything: hush money trial edition

The ex-president’s Manhattan criminal trial will be delayed until at least mid-April. Per The New York Times:

Mr. Trump, who recently clinched the Republican presidential nomination for the third time, was initially set to go on trial on March 25. Now, the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, will hold a hearing that day to determine whether the trial should be delayed further—and if so, for how long.… Mr. Trump, who faces four criminal trials and several civil lawsuits, has succeeded in stalling many of the cases.

A criminal case against Mr. Trump in Washington, where he is accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election results, was initially supposed to go to trial this month, but that is delayed while Mr. Trump appeals to the Supreme Court. The federal case in Florida charging Mr. Trump with mishandling classified documents was originally set for May, but now does not have a trial date. And a judge in Atlanta this week quashed six of the charges against Mr. Trump in his Georgia election interference case, which also lacks a trial date.

Meanwhile, in other Trump legal news…

Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis survived an attempt by the ex-president’s legal team, though the lead prosecutor on the case was not so lucky. Per The Washington Post:

In a 23-page ruling issued Friday, Fulton County Superior Court judge Scott McAfee wrote that the defendants “failed to meet their burden” in proving that Willis’s relationship with [Nathan] Wade—along with allegations that she was financially enriched through trips the two took together—was enough of a “conflict of interest” to merit her removal from the case. But the judge also found a “significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team” and said either Willis and her office must fully leave the case or Wade must withdraw.

On Friday afternoon, Wade sent a letter of resignation to Willis, pointing to McAfee’s ruling. He described his time leading the prosecution and “seeking justice for the people of Georgia and the United States…the honor of a lifetime.”

Willis accepted Wade’s resignation, and wrote in a letter: “You were the one who had the courage to accept this role, even though you did not seek it.”

Mike Pence makes a big deal of not endorsing Trump, does not say whether or not he’ll vote for him…

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