Sanders vows to stand up to ‘Trumps of the world’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday vowed to stand up against “the Donald Trumps of the world,” who he said have been spreading racist attitudes that divide the country.

“I will do everything I can to stand up to the Donald Trumps of the world, and their bigotry and their xenophobia and their desire to turn one American against another person,” Sanders said at a Democratic presidential forum in Iowa.  

{mosads}“You’ve got the Trumps of the world trying to divide this country up by racial lines,” Sanders said in response to an emotional question from a woman whose husband is an illegal immigrant and fears deportation daily.

Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, has faced repeated criticism from Democrats, as well as several GOP rivals, for his call to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. and for accusing Mexicans of being rapists.

Sanders also highlighted Trump’s “birther” campaign, which he said implied that an African-American president was not legitimate.

The remarks, Sanders said, have the effect of “scapegoating minorities.”

In response to a question on deportation, Sanders strongly condemned the Obama administration’s recent holiday-season raids of undocumented Central American families’ homes.

“As soon as I possibly can, we will provide legal protection for 11 million undocumented people in this country,” he said. “I will use all the powers that the president has to protect undocumented people.”