Advertisement Sanders reacts sharply when asked if he would be ‘capable’ of launching nuclear weapons Vermont senator addresses his approach to war, many other issues, on WMUR’s ‘Conversation with the Candidate’

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Sen. Bernie Sanders bristled at the question. “What kind of a question is that?” he asked WMUR political director Adam Sexton in the latest segment of WMUR’s “Conversation with the Candidate” series.The question was one not often asked of the independent senator from Vermont, the winner of the 2016 New Hampshire primary and the self-described democratic socialist.“Do you feel you would be capable of using nuclear weapons in defense of the country?” Sexton asked, following up on an audience member’s question about President Donald Trump’s relationships with authoritarian leaders, such as Kim Jong-Un of North Korea and Vladimir Putin of Russia.Sanders’ immediate reaction to Sexton’s question was a sarcastic, “Oh, yeah, anytime!”He added, “Am I capable of blowing up the world?”When Sexton called it “a great moral question,” Sanders quickly responded, “It’s a great immoral question.”The senator made it clear that, “I’m not a pacifist,” and that he realizes, “Sometimes, war is unfortunately what has to be done.”But, he said, “You’re looking at somebody who will do everything that he can to make sure that our kids are not dying in the Middle East.”Sanders said he hoped no president would ever be in the position of deciding whether to launch nuclear weapons.“The real question is: How the hell do we get rid of these nuclear weapons that are threatening the entire planet? And I would be aggressive in doing that.“Right now, we have a president who wants to spend more and more money on the military and more money on nuclear weapons,” Sanders said. “I want to see us not abrogate treaties with Iran or anyplace else, which have controlled the growth of nuclear weapons.“I want to see us be aggressive in bringing the world together again to figure out how we can substantially not only reduce military spending worldwide, but how we can reduce the ongoing and long-term threat of nuclear weapons.”Sanders has said in campaign stops that while other candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden, supported the war in Iraq, he was a leader in opposition. He said he never believed the George W. Bush administration’s contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.Sanders said he led an effort to ensure that the United States had no role in Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen.He said that currently, Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton “wants a war with Iran.“How crazy is that?” Sanders asked. “Have we not learned anything from the war in Iraq and all of the destabilization and loss of life we experienced there? I’m going to do everything I can to stop that war in Iran."“I don’t apologize for trying to do everything humanly possible to stop wars and destruction and to try to reach diplomatic solutions.”Sanders said that when he chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, he spoke with many people whose loved ones were killed or injured in combat.“I know it’s good politics to have politicians say, ‘I’m going to be tough on this one. I’m going to be tough on that one.’“Fine. But their kids are not the kids who are going off to war and are dying. Not their kids.”Sanders said that while the United States should work with dictators such as Kim Jong-Un and Putin to the extent possible, “You don’t praise Kim Jon-un. You don’t have as your bosom buddy Vladimir Putin. You don’t bring the leader of Hungary, who is an anti-Semite and an authoritarian, into the White House and talk about what a nice guy he is.“And then at the same time you attack Canada and Germany and the United Kingdom, our long-term allies.“We need a president who believes in democracy in human rights, who is reaching around the world to bring countries together, who does not support the brutal dictatorship in a Saudi Arabia.”In response to other questions on the program, Sanders:-- Said that despite winning the 2016 New Hampshire primary in a landslide, he is not taking the state for granted in the current campaign.-- Predicted that he will win the New Hampshire primary “because we have a very strong coalition of working people, of young people, of black activists and Latino activists – people all across the board.”-- Said that New Hampshire voters showed three years ago that his beliefs that health care is a constitutional right, the minimum wage should be significantly raised, the gender wage gap should be closed, climate change is the greatest threat to the planet and the criminal justice and immigration systems should be substantially reformed, were not “extreme and radical ideas.”-- Said he is the strongest candidate to defeat Trump because he can ensure a large voter turnout. He said his key issues “resonate” with voters in Pennsylvania and Midwestern states won by Trump in the 2016 general election.-- Said the U.S. House Judiciary Committee “should go forward with an inquiry” into the possible impeachment of Trump. -- Said ending the Electoral College and electing presidents by popular vote “should be explored.” He added, “It’s hard to argue in modern day politics that the election revolves around 14 or 15 states in this country, including New Hampshire – the so-called battleground states.”Sanders also addressed his plan for free public colleges education and reducing student debt, increasing federal support for public K-12 education, addressing climate change, criminal justice reform, Medicare-for-all, the judiciary and reproductive rights.