Bernie Sanders Praises Trump's Socialist Dictatorship, Airlines Grapple with Plus Size Passengers

0:00You're listening to Newsweek Radio. Irreverent news talk and opinion without agenda. From the 72nd floor of One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. This is Newsweek Radio with your host, Jesse Edwards. Today's top trending headlines at Newsweek.com. Links are in the descriptions depending on where you're listening. Trump says maybe people like dictators. His comments came amid a push by his administration to crack down on crime in the nation's capital and his threats to bring the military elsewhere to cities like San Francisco and Chicago. You know, when I have some slob like Pritzker criticizing us before we even go there, I made the statement that next should be Chicago because, as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now.

0:41And they don't acknowledge it. And they say, we don't need him. Freedom, freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator. A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator. Wow. Look, Donald Trump has shown America just how easy it is to hijack the system. Ignore all the rules, stonewall the press, bulldoze precedent, and dare the country to stop you, which nobody did and nobody will. This is the playbook now. And it no longer belongs only to Trump. It belongs to the establishment, which is something that I don't believe a lot of people are taking into consideration right now. And the signals are everywhere.

1:12He's placed the National Guard in D.C., meant less for protection than intimidation. And he's threatening to send troops into other major cities as if they were occupied territory. People are saying maybe we'd like a dictator. Look, this is bigger than Trump. This is the GOP deciding that democracy itself is optional in their constitutional republic, gerrymandering districts and rewriting voting laws and purging election officials and attacking the courts and delaying investigations until they collapse? Bend every lever of power until it breaks, so long as it keeps them in control. I think I'm not allowed to run again.

1:43I'm not sure. Am I allowed to run again? The power belongs to those who are willing to seize it, apparently. The only thing that can stop Trump now is his own body, his age and decline from the bruises on his hands to the erosion of his memory and stamina that no amount of bluster can hide, but the GOP has already prepared for that inevitability. J.D. Vance is standing ready. He was once a critic and now he's the apprentice, the younger model, polished and pliable and just waiting in the wings for something to happen. If Trump falls apart, the party's not. They're going to slap Vance in under martial law, under the fog of war, under whatever cover they need.

2:17Venezuela might be the first test site for this transfer of power. What, you wouldn't put it past him? Come on. Republicans didn't have to invent this strategy. They learned it by watching the Democrats in the way Kamala Harris was position as the natural successor to Biden. It taught everybody how easy it is to normalize the replacement of a president with a vice president. It's not about ideology anymore. It's about control. And Trump has taught both parties that you don't need to respect the constitution because the constitution cannot enforce itself. And you don't need to fear precedent because precedent only matters if both sides have a sense of shame to which they clearly do not.

2:50You don't even have to answer to the press anymore because the press is playing along. Just revoke their press credentials if they ask uncomfortable questions and everybody else in the press pool is going to fall in line. All you need is the audacity to seize power. That's the entire playbook. And it's not going to end with Trump. His true legacy is the discovery that one man can bend American democracy until it snaps and that a major political party is eager to follow his example. The next generation of leaders already knows this formula. Ignore the rules, stonewall institutions, threaten violence, use war as the excuse for more power, wrap it all up in a language of patriotism, and watch as the system folds itself around you.

3:28The deeper shame here is that the power Trump has seized could have been used for good purposes. You know, the ability to cut through bureaucracy and to bulldoze corruption, to silence lobbyists and special interests with the same blunt force that he uses to silence his critics. Imagine that sword in the hand of a real leader who actually cared about the people. I know, what a novel idea, right? Imagine that weapon used to clear out the rot instead of feeding it. Do you honestly believe that somebody like Gavin Newsom or any other politician would resist that kind of temptation? Do you really think that kind of unlimited power would not go to their head, their heart, or their soul?

4:04Trump developed this playbook unwittingly based on his own narcissism. But the truth is that no president should ever wield this much unchecked authority. Trump has not only corrupted the office, he has revealed how fragile it really is. He proved that with enough audacity, the guardrails vanished. and in doing so, he left behind a formula that others are going to be tempted to use again. Left wing, right wing, center, any way you want to cut it up. Vance, Newsome, whoever comes next, once that sword is forged, somebody is going to swing it. Maybe this is why the left has done so little to stop Trump.

4:37Maybe it's not just fear. Maybe it's not just incompetence. Maybe deep down, they are salivating at the chance to wield the same power themselves. Like hyenas circling a carcass. They can already taste what it would mean to turn this weaponized government against their enemies. Not in the name of justice, just in the spirit of revenge. And that's the major disappointment here, because once both sides embrace that playbook, the cycle becomes permanent. One administration uses it to smash another, then the pendulum swings back harder and harder each time. Soon it's not going to matter who wins elections, only who controls the military at that point.

5:11And that's when we're no longer a democracy. We're just simply a state trapped in an endless political war where each victory brings a purge of the opposition. This is third world country bullshit, and I thought we were better than this, to be honest. We should all be ashamed, not only for letting Trump walk into the White House twice, but for creating a system that's so fragile that his methods can now be copied and pasted by anyone who enters the office. An office that we allowed Trump to turn into a throne room. And the worst part is that we're learning to live with it. So maybe Trump is right for all I know.

5:44Maybe we really do want a dictator. The tragedy is once you hand that power over, you're never going to get it back. A lot of people are saying maybe we'd like a dictator. Next headline in Newsweek. Republican senators sound alarm on Donald Trump's step towards socialism. Trump's deal with intel that would give the federal government a 10 % stake in the company sparked pushback from at least two Republican senators. That's it. My how far the GOP has fallen from the Tea Party days. Senator Bernie Sanders, well-known, lifelong socialist, offered praise for the deal, saying, quote, If microtrip companies make a profit from the generous grants they receive from the federal government, the taxpayers of America have a right to reasonable return on that investment, unquote.

6:25Sorry, that's as best as Bernie Sanders' I can do. I don't tolerate bullshit terribly well. But what an absolute upside-down world we're living in, where a socialist like Bernie Sanders is now praising Donald Trump's socialist agenda. Wow. Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican known as a fiscal conservative and somebody who licked Trump's boots for the first four years, said, quote, If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn't the government owning part of Intel be a step towards socialism? Question mark. Terrible idea. Unquote. Senator Tom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, also raised concerns about the deal.

7:00Quote, I don't care if it's a dollar or a billion dollar stake that starts feeling like a semi state owned enterprise a la CCCP. I don't believe that the U.S. government should be picking winners and losers because you won't always be right, unquote. Senator Tillis questioned how this reconciles with true conservatism and true free market capitalism. Well, at least some of them appear to be waking up to the fact that Trump isn't a conservative or a socialist or a Democrat or a Republican for that matter. He's just Trump. Because in his world, Trump trumps everything else. You should know this one by now.

7:32He's the black hole of narcissism, the kid in the candy store grabbing whatever he wants off the shelves with his grubby little hands, without a care in the world or a real thought in his orange hair brain. Next headline in Newsweek, Southwest changing rules for plus-size passengers. Yes, Southwest Airlines is ending its long-standing customer of size policy that allowed plus-size travelers to secure extra seating without upfront costs. Beginning in January of 2026, passengers who cannot fit comfortably within one seat will be required to purchase an additional seat in advance, with refunds only granted under stricter conditions, according to the new policy by the Dallas-based airline.

8:12This is a significant change to a popular policy that allowed larger travelers to book two seats for the price of one. The shift marks a dramatic reversal for the carrier, which has been praised for inclusivity and for offering one of the most accommodating policies for larger passengers in the U.S. Alright, so to me this looks like one of those arguments where one side's going to say it's wrong of the airline, the other's going to say that the airline is right to do this, and I say that there's a third option. That the seasoned airplanes are simply too damn small for anybody with a body frame larger than a nine-year-old.

8:42Let's call this out for what it really is. The airlines are packing us all in like sardines for the bottom line and they're blaming fat people for their corruption. No, it's absolutely evil what the airlines do to us and coach. And if we had our shit together, truly, as a United States, we could effectively pool our outrage and force the airlines to give everybody more leg room. But we can't and we won't because we're too busy bickering about fat people paying more. Sorry, large people paying more. I don't want to chime in on that debate. We need to shift the narrative to why the airlines are allowed to do this to everyone in the first place.

9:13It seems like a major safety issue to me, but every few years they print up some nonsense study about how it's perfectly safe to cram everyone in the plane on top of each other until nobody can move or breathe because you wanted to get another 20 seats on an airplane that's not even full. They tell us to buckle up for our safety, but the real danger isn't turbulence. It's blood clots. From sitting in a toddler-sized chair for five hours. Forget foreign wars. If we had any spine left as a nation, the next great American revolution would be fought with pitchforks at the airport gates until we pry those extra seats back from the cold, cramped hands of the airline CEOs.

9:53Demand three more inches of legroom like it was the Boston Tea Party. No taxation without circulation. And until we can do it again, it's Newsweek Radio. I'm Jesse Edwards. Catch you next time. Bye. And we say bye-bye. Newsweek Radio is a member of the Trust Project. A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator. I don't like a dictator. I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense and a smart person.