Bernie unloads on Trump and Rahm

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -- A canceled campaign rally provoked an angry exchange between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders.  The anti-Trump protestors who shut down the rally were chanting Sanders' name. Trump demanded Sanders must now tell them to stop disrupting his events.  Sanders responded when he sat down with FOX 32 Political Editor Mike Flannery.

"Trump really is a pathological liar," Sanders said. "A lot of what comes out of his mouth has nothing to do with reality."

Sanders added that his campaign had absolutely no knowledge of nor connection to the groups that organized the anti-Trump protest at the Pavilion on the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago.

Sanders also took offense at something else Trump said Saturday at a rally near Dayton, Ohio. "I guess he also called me a communist, among other things." 

Trump insisted his supporters were blameless in the sporadic shoving and punching that erupted at UIC. He blamed Sanders supporters: "Some represented Bernie, our communist friend. Bernie, he should really get up and say to his people, "Stop. Stop." Not me.

Sanders was at first reluctant when I asked him, "Parse it out for us, communist vs. socialist."

Sanders said, "No, I don't want to do that right now. That's already-- I mean if you don't know the difference, the American people know the difference. Communism is an authoritarian type of society.  Democratic socialism is what has existed in many European countries where the voter turnout is even higher than it is in the United States. But the real issue is, should Trump just label people 'communist?' Total lie! Total absolute lie. And he lies all of the time."

Sanders and Trump, though, do sound alike when they attack international trade agreements and argue they have killed American jobs. The Business Roundtable claims Illinois is a big winner from foreign trade, with about 20% of the state's jobs depending on it. Although unionized manufacturing has declined, about 1.7 million Illinois jobs depend on world trade. It's a sector that's growing seven times faster than the rest of Illinois's economy.

Sanders acknowledged the point. "Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that NAFTA or permanent normal trade relations with China has not created some export jobs in America. Obviously, they have." 

Sanders, though, said the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs has devastated Illinois and other traditional manufacturing centers.  United Technologies recently announced it's moving 1,400 jobs from Indiana to Mexico, where many workers will be paid barely $3 an hour.

Said Sanders, "I will tell you, based on the best economic reports I have seen, that (free trade agreements) have cost us far more jobs than they have created."  Sanders did not offer specific numbers.  He and rival Hillary Clinton both oppose the pending Trans-Pacific trade agreement negotiated by President Obama.  Obama acknowledges that some workers will be hurt, but argues many more will gain jobs in the long run.

Sanders was sharply critical of Mayor Emanuel, whose ties to the Clintons go back to his days as political director in the Bill Clinton White House in the 1990s. Sanders doesn't want the mayor's endorsement, even should Sanders become the nominee:

"Absolutely not! Rahm Emanuel represents a wing of the Democratic Party that has close ties to Wall Street, close ties to the business community, which I think is destructive to the United States of America and, especially, the Democratic Party."