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Actress Susan Sarandon is a dedicated supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

(The Associated Press)

Actress and activist Susan Sarandon wants Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic presidential nomination, and she's willing to set the Democratic Party on fire to make it happen.

Democratic leaders in recent weeks have encouraged Sanders to dial back criticism of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the likely standard-bearer for the party, and redirect his outrage toward the Republicans. And he appears to be listening: the insurgent candidate has been hitting presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump hard in recent days, even challenging him to a debate.

But Sarandon, who won a best actress Oscar in 1995 for "Dead Man Walking," is not willing to play along with the "establishment."

She says Clinton is "more dangerous" than Trump because Trump is simply offering up fantasies that racists in this country want to hear, fantasies that Sarandon believes he has no intention of trying to make real.

"This is what we're fed: 'He's so dangerous, he's so dangerous,'" she said in a Thursday interview with progressive video content producer The Young Turks (aka TYT Politics). "Seriously, I'm not worried about a wall being built and Mexico paying for it. He's not going to get rid of every Muslim living in this country. Has he made it the norm to be racist and vent these kinds of things? Yes. But seriously, I don't know what his policies are."

And, in Sarandon's mind, not knowing what Trump actually stands for is better than knowing what Clinton stands for -- largely because she has put a very dark spin on Clinton's record, one that comes straight from the right-wing media's playbook.

"I do know what her policies are," Sarandon said in the interview. "I do know where she's taking money from. And I do know that she's not transparent and I know that nobody calls her on it."

Sarandon said that Clinton "did not learn from Iraq," meaning Clinton's 2002 Senate vote on authorizing the use of force in Iraq. Clinton has said her vote was a mistake but has argued that the congressional authorization was meant to be "a strong piece of leverage in order to finish the inspections" for weapons of mass destruction.

Sarandon, needless to say, does not buy that explanation. She insisted that Clinton is "an interventionist" and has done "horrible things, horrible things. And very callously. I don't know if she's overcompensating or what her trip is, but that scares me. I think we'll be in Iran in two seconds" if Clinton is elected.

The 69-year-old actress, in another interview this week, said "it's inevitable" that Clinton will be indicted for her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. A federal investigation is ongoing, but most legal experts who have weighed in on the subject don't believe Clinton will face charges.

William Jeffress, a Washington, D.C., defense attorney who represented Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby, told Politico that, from a strictly legal standpoint, Clinton shouldn't have anything to worry about. "Looked at as a potential criminal case," he said, "this would be laughed out of court."

That may turn out to be true, but public perceptions -- on the far left as well as the far right -- make it a political problem Clinton could have trouble overcoming. Just ask Susan Sarandon.

-- Douglas Perry

Watch Sarandon's interview with TYT Politics below.