"Same, lame Russia meddling BS. Trump & Bernie react in completely different ways (Video)"
The Duran Quick Take: Episode 479 (February 24, 2020)
https://theduran.com/same-lame-russia-meddling-bs-trump-bernie-react-in-completely-different-ways-video/

The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss the the same old ‘Russia is meddling’ intel narrative being pushed out by the fake news mainstream media, this time targeting not only US President Trump but also Bernie Sanders.

Trump blasted the fake news saying this is ‘2016 all over again for Bernie’, while the US president pointed the finger at Adam Schiff for the ‘Russiagate’ Sanders leaks.

Sanders meanwhile agreed with the intel report and media stories, calling Putin a “thug”, and warning Russia to stop meddling.

Alex Christoforou: “Lets talk about the New York Times article that is now saying Russia is set to interfere in the 2020 elections in favor of Trump and they’re also going to interfere in favor of Bernie Sanders in the Democrat [primary] elections. And I want to read to you, within literally a 24 hour time span, three titles from the New York Times

Russia is Said to Be Interfering to Aid Bernie Sanders in 2020 Election

Bernie Sanders, the Teflon Candidate, Faces Sudden New Tests

“And the third one, with a picture of Putin:

Same Goal, Different Playbook: Why Russia Would Support Trump and Sanders

"So, three titles right there off the bat from the New York Times. Do you want to comment real quickly on those titles, Alexander? And then I’ll read you what Bernie Sanders said about the New York Times article and then I’ll read you how Trump reacted to the New York Times article. Which is very interesting how both men reacted to this article. First a quick comment on these three titles from the New York Times, literally within 24 hours."

[1:13] Alexander Mercouris: "Let’s concentrate on what the New York Times and also the Washington Post, one should say, is doing. We have our old friends, the anonymous sources who come along to the two newspapers of record, the New York Times and the Washington Post, and, of course, as we all know the establishment, the elite, the Blob. Call it what you want. The Deep State. Call it what you will. They don’t like Donald Trump. I mean, that’s become absolutely crystal clear over the last four years. They don’t like Bernie Sanders, either, very much. And what we hear and see is that, once again, they’re whispering away about how Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, they’re advancing because the Russians are helping them. This now seems to be the default position. It’s always the Russians helping either Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders and exactly at the moment, one should notice, when both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are looking extremely strong."

[2:20] "Can I say, once again, not a shred of evidence to support this bizarre conclusion and all these bizarre claims. They are completely and absurdly bizarre because, of course, why would the Russians want to interfere in an American election now? And why would they simultaneously be backing both Donald Trump AND Bernie Sanders? I mean, the mind boggles about this. But it seems to me it’s quite clear now that the US intelligence community, as it calls itself, is essentially an entirely owned subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee. And it does exactly what the Democratic National Committee wants. The Democatic National Committee obviously doesn’t want Donald Trump re-elected President of the United States. And the Democratic National Committee obviously doesn’t want Bernie Sanders elected. And together the Democratic National Committee is a fully owned subsidiary of the US intelligence community. They make up the Deep State along with the Military-Industrial Complex, the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, most of the media. And all of these people apparently Barack Obama referred to them as The Blob. And here we see them all in action once again recycling the same story, playing the same record all over again. It’s Russia, Russia, Russia. Donald Trump is the Russian asset. Bernie Sanders is the Russian asset. And I think it was Caitlin Johnstone who said you know it seems that the only person who is not a Russian asset is Pete Booty-judge. I’ve even seen suggestions that Mike Bloomberg is a Russian asset, though I think those were intended satirically."

[4:11] Alex Christoforou: "I think Pete Buttigieg is a CIA plant. And there is quite a lot of evidence out there that he’s a CIA player, but that’s probably another video for another time. But I think there’s a big difference here, even though they’re both “Russian assets” according to the New York Times and the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, and all these idiots. Bernie Sanders embraces it and goes along with it. In other words he plays into the Deep State’s game, and Trump fights it. Let me read you the two quotes from both of them which I think clearly points out how the one man is a fighter and the other man is going to get rolled over by the Deep State. He’s going to get rolled over and trounced. And he did it in 2016 when he supported Hillary Clinton. He supported Hillary Clinton and it showed what a weak spine he has. And I’m sorry. I’ve said many good things about Bernie Sanders. But after he commented on the New York Times piece, I don’t know what to say, the way he commented about it."

[7:08] Alex Christoforou: "So there you have Bernie’s reaction, which is “Yeah. The Russians are interfering in elections and I’m going to tell Putin to stop. And if the intelligence community tells me they’re interfering, then of course I believe the intelligence community, the same intelligence community that lied us into the Iraq War and tried to pass off hoaxes in Syria, in Libya, have lied over and over again, but Bernie Sanders is saying ‘No. If they’re telling me this, that Russia is interfering, then I’m going to buy into it, and essentially saying ‘I’m going to work with them to stop this interference and I’m gonna tell Putin exactly who the man is. Sanders is going to tell Putin who the man is. Trump on the other hand, what does he do? He makes fun of it. He says ‘another hoax.’ He says ‘Do Nothing Democrats.’ He brushes it off, laughs about it. And then condemns, essentially, the New York Times and the Washington Post are just spreading more BS fake news. Two very different reactions. And Trump’s reaction, I like. Bernie Sanders’ reaction, once again to me confirms that when they steal the election from Bernie Sanders, which they will. When they steal the election, he’s gonna roll over again."

[8:23] Alexander Mercouris: "Well, this is why Donald Trump and not Bernie Sanders is President of the United States, and why, come November 2020 I predict that Donald Trump and not Bernie Sanders will again be elected President of the United States. What you get from the one, Donald Trump, is fighting talk. And not just fighting talk, but true talk. I mean, he says it as it is. What you get from Bernie Sanders is appeasement. And, of course, if you try to appease the DNC/Intelligence-Community Complex, they will not be appeased. They will come back and they will demand more. They will eat you alive. That’s exactly what they’re going to do. Every time he advances, every time he pushes up in the polls, we’ll see more stories being spread, more interviews in which he’s going to be asked about all of this. He’s going to be constantly on the defensive. He’s going to be made to look weak and shifty. And to be very clear, these answers are precisely that. And Donald Trump is going to see himself become ever stronger as he pushes back on a story that Americans have now heard so many times that they are no longer, I think, as credulous about it as some of them were – Not all of them – Some of them were back in 2016-2017 when it was first played. So, I predict that the result of all of this is that Donald Trump is in a stronger position to win the Presidency, to retain the presidency come November 2020. Because his approach is politically the right one."

"Why doesn’t Bernie Sanders do the obvious and right thing? [Why doesn’t he say], ‘All these allegations we’ve been hearing from all these anonymous sources about Russian interference, we’ve had endless investigations. You had Mueller looking into them. You had all kinds of people looking into them. Nothing has been proved to be true. They ran with the Steele Dossier which a complete and absolute piece of fake nonsense. Why should I believe it? I’m not going to believe it. And I don’t think it’s any coincidence at all that all of this is now coming up at precisely the moment when I seem to be making progress in winning the Democratic Party’s nomination.’ That would have been a very strong pitch. It would have convinced many people for the very simple reason that it is true. But that’s the difference, as I said, between fighting and appeasing. Donald Trump takes the Churcillian route and Bernie Sanders takes the Chamberlain route.” [ouch!] And the result is, as I said, Trump is going to win."

[11:29] "I agree with you and I’ve basically had a lot of time for Bernie Sanders. I’ve always had a great respect for him. But this response commands no respect. Weakness never does."

Alex Christoforou: "Yes. He could learn something from Tulsi Gabbard, couldn’t he? Tulsi Gabbard went right after Hillary Clinton the minute Hillary Clinton started just a little bit to smear her. Tulsi Gabbard went right after her. Bernie Sanders should have said exactly what you said. And he should have said ‘This is once again the Hillary Clinton machine trying to smear me, trying to create a brokered convention, and trying to steal the nomination from me.’ He should have said that. He should still say that. But, instead, he goes along with the Russia-gate narrative. He went along with it in 2016-17-18 Ukraine-gate, all of it. He went along with it. He’s going along with it now. He doesn’t realize this is a set-up, like you said. A set-up for more stories on why Bernie Sanders who vacationed on his honeymoon in Russia and all that stuff, is their preferred candidate. They’re going to continue to hit them with this story. And he’s just sitting there agreeing with it. He should be just blasting them. But he doesn’t do it."

[12:41] Alexander Mercouris: "… I don’t understand the logic of his not doing it. Because he can’t seriously believe that it’s true. He’s obviously frightened of these people, and I suspect that there are whisperers around him who tell him he’s got to, if he’s gonna win and beat Trump, he’s got to unite the Democratic Party behind him. What he’s toing to do, he’s not going to unite the Democratic Party behind him because these people, the people we’re talking about, the people who are spreading these stories, are not going to stop spreading these stories. They’re not going to unite behind him under any circumstances. What you said is right. They’re going to work, flat-out to get a brokered Convention and to stop Bernie Sanders becoming the Democratic Party’s candidate by saying that he’s Putin’s candidate. And what has Bernie done? He’s given that whole narrative traction. He ..."

Alex Christoforou: “He goes along with it. He accepts it.

Alexander Mercouris: “He accepts it. Exactly.”

Alex Christoforou: “He accepts what the intelligence community says at face value. Right away.”

[13:52] Alexander Mercouris: “Well, indeed. Since when does a left-wing so-called “socialist” in the United States support what the US intelligence community says? It really turns reality on its head. These are the people the US intelligence community targets. They’re targeting him. Why can’t he see that? He comes along and says “They’re right to target me. Come after me. I’m clearly the person who is, you know, being helped by Putin in this fashion. So I invite you to attack me. It’s a crazy ploy for him to take. Crazy approach. And it shows again his weakness and I’m sure it also shows what incredibly bad advice he’s getting.

[14:44] Alex Christoforou: “He also shows what a terrible diplomat he is. I’ll be honest. His foreign policy is already lacking. I have many doubts about Bernie Sanders’ foreign policy ability. But once again, resorting to the Putiin is a quote autocratic thug. So, you’re going to be president Bernie Sanders and you’re going to have to deal with Putin after you’ve called him an autocratic thug. How are you going to deal with him?”

[15:06] Alexander Mercouris: “Well, exactly. How are you? I mean you’re gonna face exactly the same set of problems that Donald Trump has. But you’re going to make them far worse. Because at least with Putin and Trump, there is a personal relationship. They’re able to talk to each other, even though there’s this constant commentary going on about Trump appeasing Putin. But if Bernie Sanders tries to have a dialogue with Putin, he’s also gonna get the endless, you know, thing about Bernie Sanders appeasing Putin. But, of course, Putin is going to be furious. He doesn’t like being called an autocratic thug. He isn’t one. I mean the whole thing is so misguided from so many points of view. It disqualifies him from the Presidency. And I agree with you completely about Bernie Sanders’ foreign policy. He has apparently never shown much interest in foreign policy. As President of the United States he has to be interested in foreign policy because that’s going to be at least 50% of his job, a fact that he may not like but it’s the reality. He’s got to make these kinds of decisions. He has just disqualified himself from becoming president by making this extraordinary statement.

[16:31] Alex Christoforou: “To close out the video, my final thoughts and then you can give me your final thoughts. There is no way Bernie Sanders is going to be able to survive the onslaught of the Deep State / intelligence community when they go after him. There is no way Bernie Sanders will be able to take and absorb what Donald Trump has gone through. There’s no way that he would survive a Steele dossier. Moscow hotel pee tape video, whatever it is when they do decide in their desperation to throw that out there. It is going to crush him.

“I absolutely, entirely agree with that. Moreover, He is going to be up against Donald Trump who’s going to be pointing out all the time how weak he is. We’ve already seen tweets coming out from Donald Trump to that effect. You know, about ‘Crazy Bernie’ not being up to fighting essentially against these people who are trying to deprive him of the nomination. And if he goes along appeasing them well, even if he becomes the Democratic Party’s candidate, he will have a Democratic Party that doesn’t trust him, is still intriguing against him. He’s going to have people like Blankfield and all those people saying that they’d rather vote for Trump than Sanders anyway because they don’t trust his socialist policies and Trump is going to have him for breakfast. I mean, it’s obvious to me.

[18:13 Alex Christoforou: “Yes. It’s obvious that he’s not even gonna get that far. They’re going to steal the election from him for a second time and you what’s going to happen. Instead of taking Tulsi Gabbard and starting a progressive third party like they should have done in 2016, he’s going to say ‘You need to support, everyone who supports me should support Hillary Clinton and Vice President Mike Bloomberg or Vice President Pete Buttigieg.’ That is exactly what he’s going to do to fall in line because of this statement. He had his chance, Alexander. Many many times to be a real revolutionary hero. But then he makes statements like this. This statement could have been written by Hillary Clinton.”

[18:59] Alexander Mercouris: "That’s what makes it so terrible. Not Hillary Clinton herself, but the people around her. I mean, it gives every appearance of having been concocted by people within the DNC. They have this thing in the Washington Post and the New York Times about the Russians helping Bernie. And so what does he do, he goes off and agrees with it. He signs off on it. He repeats it. Terrible. Can I just add something else. Donald Trump didn’t just ridicule this allegation. He went off and fired the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Apparently he said ‘I’m not going to have you going off to Congress spreading stories about the Russians helping me and talking to Adam Schiff of all people. You’re no longer Acting Director of National Intelligence. You’re out. That is how he reacted. He’s stamping his authority on his own administration. He’s telling the US intelligence community, ‘I’m not taking any more of this nonsense. Go after Bernie if you like, but you don’t dare go after me. And if you do, I will fight you all the way. And what Bernie does instead is he goes along and signs off on these in groups of bizarre statements in which the people who have been incessantly lying for three, four years, he says that he believes them. And he says that he believes them in a way that will do the most possible damage to his own campaign."

[20:39] Alex Christoforou: "Very quick question now that you’re saying that. Which scenario do you think it is. Three scenarios. Because all the evidence is out there. And you have to be a moron to actually believe the Russia-gate hack, DNC, collusion story. You have to be a real freaking moron."

"Number One: Either Bernie didn’t read the evidence at all. Number Two: He’s playing along with the deep state and the intel officials and the DNC, and the Democrats who have already screwed him once already. Big time screwed him out of a nomination but he’s still playing along with it. Or, Number Three: He’s read everything and gone over everything and he actually believes the narrative, which would make him a freaking moron."

[21:18] Alexander Mercouris: "Well, I don’t believe the third and I don’t believe the first. I think the second is true. I think he’s appeasing these people. I really cannot imagine – whatever else Bernie is, he’s not an idiot – and I don’t really believe that he’s such an idiot as to believe this narrative any longer. I mean, he’s in the Senate. He’s had access to all the information, much more information than we have seen. He knows there was no collusion. He’s no doubt familiar with the Mueller Report. He can’t be ignorant of what Barr and Durham are doing. He doesn’t believe any of this."

[22:03] "But he’s scared of these people. And, of course, if you’re scared, you’re lost. You can’t go into politics and apply to be President of the United States if you’re scared. Scared people are weak people. Donald Trump comes across not scared but determined to impose his authority. He bangs his fist. He tweets his defiance and sacks his Acting Director of National Intelligence and brings a loyalist in his place. And says to Bernie in tweets: “Man up on this.” That’s what he’s been saying. You didn’t follow these tweets. I mean, given the choice between a weak man and a strong one, and this is a defining issue, strength and weakness, the American people will always choose a strong man. That’s always the way. That’s always the way in elections. Not just in the U.S. but in every country."

Alex Christoforou: “And if people think this guy is going to deliver such a complicated issue like Medicare for all, or a living wage, which are very divisive, complicated issues where you have to go up against the Pharma industries which are very much like the military-industrial complex. Do you think this guy’s going to have the strength to get that stuff through? You’re kidding yourselves. You’re fooling yourselves.”

[23:23] Alexander Mercouris: “Well, he’s not going to have that strength. And, of course, that’s exactly the point that Donald Trump and his people are going to be making. They’re going to say, first of all, that Crazy Bernie, his plans are socialist and absurd and they can’t work, and, anyway, he can’t see them through because he’s obviously so weak and dizzy that he’ll fold at the first challenge. And he will. I mean, he has just shown to everybody that he’ll be president in name only.”

[23:51] Alex Christoforou: “What a disappointing statement. There are so many opportunities to deliver a real revolution. So many opportunities.

Alexander Mercouris: "What I would say, though, at the same time, it does clarify things. It does show that anybody, and I’ve read people who say that Bernie Sanders is the person. He’s got to clean out the swamp, you know. We don’t have to go with Trump because Trump’s got all these defects and flaws. Some of which are true, by the way. I’m not here to say that Trump is the perfect man. I’m not at all saying that. But the idea that Bernie Sanders is going to clean out the swamp, I think we can now say definitely that’s not going to happen. If Bernie Sanders wins the Presidency in November 2020, the Swamp will be in its full power and pomp. We will see all the investigations into what happened in Russia-gate closed down and it will be business as usual."

[24:47] Alex Christoforou: “With the wars, as usual.”