Sen. Bernie Sanders appears to have discovered a sudden respect for political moderation, or at least the campaign season version of it, as reported by Townhall.

The Vermont socialist, who has spent decades dragging the Democratic Party toward the fever swamps of the left, now wants voters to believe the radical ideas attached to his movement are somehow imaginary.

During an appearance on Pod Save America, Sanders insisted that “no serious person I know who is running for office believes in defunding the police” or supports open borders.

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That line may sound comforting to nervous Democrat strategists watching the midterm map, but it lands with a thud for anyone who has paid attention to the candidates Sanders has championed.

This is not a case of Republicans inventing a scarecrow. The left built the scarecrow, put it on a campaign flyer, raised money from it, and then acted shocked when normal Americans noticed.

Candidates Sanders has supported and appeared with have openly embraced ideas that would have been considered fringe even by old-school liberals not long ago.

Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, both connected to Sanders-style socialist politics, have campaigned on ideas ranging from abolishing prisons to mass amnesty and defunding federal immigration enforcement.

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Then there is U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, who once declared that “prison is violence” during a public appearance.

James Talarico: “Prison is violence.” pic.twitter.com/aUo9v75GXH

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 23, 2026

That is not a law-and-order platform. That is the kind of faculty lounge slogan that makes working families wonder whether anyone on the left has ever had to call 911 after midnight.

Sanders wants to pretend that no serious candidate supports these positions, but the problem for him is that the Democratic Socialists of America have put the radicalism in writing.

The group’s platform calls for abolishing ICE, ending police immunity, and ending “mass incarceration" by “fully abolishing the police and prison system,” along with the “legalization of migration.”

Those are not conservative talking points. Those are their own words, their own agenda, and their own vision for America, served up without the polite packaging Sanders is now trying to slap on it.

The timing of Sanders suddenly playing cleanup man is not exactly mysterious.

Democrats are staring at a midterm electorate that has grown tired of open border chaos, rising crime, and activists who treat police officers like villains while treating illegal immigration as a civil right.

That is a tough sell outside deep blue activist circles, and Sanders seems to know it.

Across New York and other progressive strongholds, Democratic Socialists tied to the Sanders and Mamdani wing of the party have been beating incumbents who were already far to the left by any normal American standard.

In other words, the party is not drifting back to the center. It is being pulled even harder toward socialism, and Sanders is one of the main reasons that happened.

Now that the brand is becoming politically radioactive, he wants to blur the edges and reassure voters that nobody important really means the crazy stuff.

That might work on a podcast friendly to the left, but it is a harder act to pull off in communities dealing with the consequences of soft-on-crime policies and border anarchy.

Americans do not need a lecture from Sanders about what his movement supposedly believes. They can read the platforms, watch the rallies, and listen to the candidates he has helped elevate.

The radical left has told the country exactly what it wants: fewer immigration limits, weaker law enforcement, fewer consequences for criminals, and more government control over everyday life.

Republicans should not let Sanders get away with laundering socialism through soothing campaign season language.

If the Democratic Socialists want to abolish ICE, abolish prisons, and legalize migration, they should own it loudly and let voters decide whether that sounds like a sane country.

The more Sanders insists that no serious candidate believes these things, the more obvious the dodge becomes.

He is not refuting the radical agenda. He is trying to hide it before patriotic Americans send Democrats another message at the ballot box.

The left spent years chanting, marching, and fundraising on these ideas.

Now Bernie Sanders wants voters to believe it was all just a misunderstanding, which is quite a convenient story from the man who helped make socialism fashionable in the modern Democratic Party.

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