Bernie Sanders visited Jimmy Kimmel Live on “Western Tuesday,” the same day a terror attack killed over 30 people in Brussels, Belgium. During his interview with Kimmel, Sanders spoke about stopping ISIS as well as why Americans are more inclined to align with tough-talking candidates in the aftermath of a terror attack.
“I think people get afraid, and for good reason. ISIS is a disgusting, barbaric organization – we’ve seen what they’ve done in Paris, what they’ve done in Brussels – and people are afraid of an attack in the United States,” Sanders said. “But what we have to understand is that we’re not gonna undermine the Constitution of the United States of America in order to effectively destroy ISIS. We can do that. So our goal in this issue is to destroy ISIS in coalition with Muslim nations on the ground, with the support of the United States and other major powers. I think we can do that.”
Sanders said the key to stopping ISIS, in addition to the military, is better information sharing between nations as well as preventing radicals from engaging with these terror groups via social media. “At the end of the day, we can not allow the Trumps of the world to use these incidents to attack all of the Muslim people in the world. That is unfair,” Sanders added. “To imply that because somebody is a Muslim, they are a terrorist, that is an outrageous statement, equally so when he talks about Mexicans coming over the border are rapists and criminals. That is not what this country is about. We don’t need, in my view, a candidate running for president hurling these types of insults.”
Sanders later revealed that he has never met Donald Trump – “I didn’t go to his wedding either,” a poke at Hillary Clinton, who was in attendance at the nuptials – and that while he supports states’ rights to decide legalizing marijuana, he’s more concerned about issues that will affect his grandchildren’s future, like climate control and lead poisoned water.
Sanders also admitted that he and Clinton sometimes have private conversations, and that he’s not to blame for Clinton’s “historic” “unfavorability numbers” in some polls. “What I have tried to do in this campaign is focus on the real issues impacting the American people,” Sanders said. “We have been very careful about not attacking Secretary Clinton in any kind of personal way. Other people do that, we have not.”