By Paul Bean
In a social media post made by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Sanders decried what he called “illegal arrests” made by the Trump administration intended to “spread fear and silence dissent.”
Sanders’ video is part of his ongoing “Tour to End Oligarchy,” a campaign launched earlier this year to rally opposition to what he calls a dangerous concentration of power under Trump.
Tuesday (4/ 29) evening Sen Sanders posted a social media clip from one of his outdoor rallies, with overlaid footage of Mohsen Mahdawi’s arrest in Colchester, VT, with the caption “Illegal arrests made by the Trump administration are intended to spread fear and silence dissent. We cannot allow Trump and his cronies to turn the United States of America into an authoritarian society in which people can be disappeared for their political beliefs.”
Mahdawi is a Palestinian man living in the U.S. on a green card and was arrested by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security April 14 for an alleged history of pro-Palestinian activism and ‘empathy’ for Hamas.
Sanders warned that such actions signal a dangerous slide toward authoritarianism in the United States. “We cannot allow Trump and his cronies to turn the United States of America into an authoritarian society in which people can be disappeared for their political beliefs,” Sanders stated.
Sanders also recently made headlines for a surprise appearance at the Coachella music festival on April 13, where he urged young attendees to “stand up to fight for justice” on issues like climate change and economic inequality. A ZeroHedge article reported one of Sanders’ critics for his appearance at Coachella. Collin Rugg on X called it pandering to “drugged-out 20-year-olds.”
The reactions to Sanders’ video highlight the deep divisions in Vermont and beyond over the Trump administration’s actions. This split can be seen very evidently depending on where you look at the response and replies to his post… On Facebook the replies to Bernie’s video are mostly positive. “Thank you for your hard, selfless work, for the love of your country, constitution, and fellow citizens,” writes one user. “OMG sympathy from Canada as we watch what is happening,” writes another user on Facebook.
On X however, Sanders’ post received an overwhelmingly different response. “There were exactly 0 illegal arrests,” wrote Mark Coester for US House, “Simple straight forward it’s a matter of the State Department and his Status as a Migrant, Formerly legal, now that status has been revised. Defend Americans for a change,” he continued. Another X poster wrote, “The illegal arrests of Trump were intended to spread fear and silence dissent. The arrest of a judge who breaks the law is justice.”
“And yet tonight, he remains in a jail cell. It goes without saying that if the Trump administration has any shred of Justice in it Mahdawi must be released immediately. If you can pick up a legal resident off the street, throw them into a car and put them in jail without any due process, that could happen to you,” remarked Sanders at the end of his video.
It’s worth noting that users’ responses increasingly seem politically split on Facebook and X, and that is something VDC will be looking into more.
Mahdawi was released on bail by a federal Judge in Burlington, Wednesday.