Following the election of self-described socialist Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) to the U.S. Senate on November 7, conservative television hosts Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly declared that Vermont no longer belongs in the United States.

On his November 14 CNN Headline News program, while referring to Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont-based ice cream maker, Beck said that “we should take the ice cream factory without the two fat guys, and we should vote them out of the union,” adding: “I think you should have a renewal period on every state. I think the rest of the country should vote whether you're a state or not anymore.”

Similarly, on the November 16 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly blasted former state District Court Judge Edward Cashman for purportedly giving light sentences to sex offenders and declared that one of the men Cashman sentenced was given three to 10 years in prison, but is “probably going to be out at three because it's Vermont, a state that's left the union.” O'Reilly then stated that “Vermont is now a state that is San Francisco values, secular-progressive all day long. They elect a socialist -- as we just talked with [Fox News political analyst] Dick Morris -- as a senator: Bernie Sanders.” O'Reilly concluded: “I'm not even eating their maple syrup anymore. That's how bad it is.”

From the November 14 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: You know, I think -- you know, and I -- honestly, I thought of this during the election. With Vermont -- is it Vermont? Which is the one that just elected the first socialist?

MICHAEL GRAHAM (radio talk-show host): Vermont. Vermont.

BECK: Yeah, Vermont.

GRAHAM: Right up the road here, yeah.

BECK: I believe we should take the ice cream factory without the two fat guys, and we should vote them out of the union. I think you should have a renewal period on every state. I think the rest of the country should vote whether you're a state or not anymore.

GRAHAM: There are plenty -- there are plenty of Americans who, I think, don't qualify as citizens from a standpoint of knowledge, et cetera.

BECK: Exactly.

From the November 16 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: All right. Here's how bad this moron is: Jail protects children from the man, because he's in jail and can't molest children while in jail. That's why you put them there. OK? Joining us now from Boston, attorney and child advocate Wendy Murphy, who has followed the case from the very beginning.

Now, just to bring people up-to-date, there were two men involved with raping this 6-year-old girl, and this girl's life -- we've been following her -- is pretty much over, unfortunately. She's just a mess. And you can imagine a 6-year-old being raped for four years by two men. All right, so the one guy is in jail --

MURPHY: You never get over it.

O'REILLY: Right. Three to 10 -- probably going to be out at three because it's Vermont, a state that's left the union.

[...]

O'REILLY: OK, but you know as well as I do that Vermont is now a state that is San Francisco values, secular-progressive all day long. They elect a socialist -- as we just talked with Dick Morris -- as a senator: Bernie Sanders, our pal. OK, now, Bernie Sanders, in case you don't know what socialism is, advocates seizing private property, yours, Wendy, mine, everybody's, and giving it to whoever the government deems it should be given to. That's what socialism is. No private property. OK. So Vermont elects him, by a landslide, to be a senator. Vermont is for restorative justice, which is what Cashman is: no punishment -- healing. No protection -- healing.

[...]

MURPHY: And you held Cashman accountable and the press doesn't like when you hold judges accountable.

O'REILLY: You know how bad it is? Here's how bad it is. I'm not even eating their maple syrup anymore. That's how bad it is.