At the end of August, Bernie Sanders wrote an op-ed for the Columbia Journalism Review. He expressed concern about the consolidation of corporate ownership of news outlets and outlined a plan to “reform the media industry and better protect independent journalism at both the local and national levels.” Predictably, the most unhinged reaction came from right-wing writer and podcaster Ben Shapiro, whose tweet made it sound as if Bernie was proposing to create an American version of Glavlit, the censorship agency that had offices in every newsroom in the Soviet Union.

Liberal reactions to Sanders’s concerns about media ownership haven’t been much warmer. When he’s linked the Washington Post’s relentlessly negative coverage of him to his advocacy for the rights of workers in Amazon warehouses also owned by Jeff Bezos, centrist Democrats accused him of peddling “fake news” conspiracy theories. Indeed, critic after critic has claimed that Bernie’s critique of corporate media ownership makes him just like Trump.

The liberal argument against Bernie on this point can be summed up with this little syllogism: Bernie has criticized the media in general and the Washington Post in particular. Trump has criticized the media in general and the Washington Post in particular. Ergo, Bernie’s criticisms and Trump’s criticisms must be equivalent.