Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) holds a "Fighting Oligarchy" rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00To the people, power to the people, power to the people, power to the people.
00:13Thank you, Lehigh Valley.
00:19This is not only a great turnout, but you are loud.
00:30I think Trump is hearing you in Mar-a-Lago.
00:37And he wants to turn down the volume.
00:41But we ain't going to let him.
00:44Well, let me thank all of you for coming out.
00:48Let me thank the university for allowing us to use this beautiful facility.
00:55Let me thank Augusta Koch and the Messengers for their music.
01:00Let me thank Susan Wild and Enid Sandiago and Brian Taylor and Tim Herzog and Thomas Cedar for their important statements.
01:12And let me thank Congressman Chris Deluzio for doing a great job in Washington and for being here today.
01:18Now, when I was in college a few years ago, they had a thing called cliff notes.
01:31They still have it?
01:32All right.
01:33So, in case anybody has a short attention span, I'm going to give you the cliff notes of my remarks.
01:43First, I'm going to say hello to your Congressman Ryan McKenzie.
01:47Now, we are live streaming this event.
01:55So, Ryan, if you're there, hi.
02:01And then we're going to talk a little bit about what has gone on in the last terrible, frightening hundred days under Trump.
02:10And then I want to take you on a tour of what's happened, in fact, over the last 50 years
02:23and why Trump was elected president and the failures of the Democratic Party to stand up for the working class.
02:33And maybe most importantly, because we don't do this at all, I want to talk with you about a vision of where we must go as a nation.
02:56Because if there's anything I want to convey to you today is, of course, yes, we must do everything we can to defeat Trumpism.
03:09But that is not enough.
03:16We are the richest country in the history of the world.
03:21And there is no reason why every man, woman, and child in this country does not have a decent standard of living.
03:34And brothers and sisters, what I also want to say is that in this unprecedented moment
03:52in the modern history of our country and the world,
03:57we have got to think in unprecedented ways.
04:01Because we cannot do today what we did yesterday.
04:08And that means we need a political revolution in the deepest sense.
04:14And that sense, that sense understands, I'm not Taylor Swift, in case you haven't noticed.
04:23We're not here as an entertainment show.
04:27We're not here to applaud Bernie or Chris Delusio.
04:32We are here to transform America.
04:36And the only way we do it is by transforming ourselves.
04:42democracy is not an entertainment activity.
04:58It's not looking at somebody else.
05:00It's not a beauty contest.
05:02It's not a concert.
05:04It is getting active and standing up for the people next to us, the people down the block, and the people across the country.
05:13So we need to be thinking of new ways.
05:24And in every part of the country, in every state, it may be a little bit different.
05:28But we've got to think of new ways as to how we can be more generous, more effective.
05:35How we can bring people together to create the kind of nation that you and I know we can become.
05:43So let me begin.
05:54See, I've already gone on for 10 minutes and I'm beginning.
05:56That's what you learned when you were a U.S. Senator.
06:01By saying hello to Congressman McKenzie.
06:04And let me say this, Mr. Congressman.
06:07We are living in very difficult times.
06:11And in your district right here, and all across this country, millions of working people are struggling to put food on the table.
06:21I was just in Harrisburg yesterday.
06:23We had a great rally in the evening.
06:26And earlier in the day, I had some time.
06:28And the administrators were kind enough to allow me to go to a couple of schools and talk to some of the kids in Harrisburg.
06:35Beautiful kids.
06:41And one of the kids, you know, I wanted to hear what was going on in their lives.
06:45And one of the kids gets up and says, well, you know, I'm living with my dad now.
06:48My parents are separated.
06:49But my mom is trying to help out.
06:52She's working at two jobs right now.
06:55And she's looking for a third job.
06:58All right.
06:59And this is what is, in fact, going on all over this country.
07:03Sixty percent of our people are living paycheck to paycheck.
07:08So I say to Congressman McKenzie, you know, and everybody in this room knows or should know,
07:13that there is what is called a reconciliation bill in Washington that will be, we think, coming to the floor.
07:21Of the House and Senate in the pretty near future.
07:25And what this bill in general does is it would make massive cuts, over $800 billion in Medicaid.
07:34It would make massive cuts in nutrition programs.
07:46Massive cuts to housing.
07:51And all of those savings would be used to provide a $1.1 trillion tax rate for the richest 1%.
08:06So my message to Congressman McKenzie is don't vote for that terrible piece of legislation.
08:23And if you do, I have a strong suspicion you will be a one-term member of Congress.
08:32You know, for a number of years, in Vermont and around the country, I talked a lot about our nation moving toward an oligarchic form of society.
08:53And there were people who were saying, what does oligarchy mean?
08:58What is Bernie talking about?
08:59Well, thanks to Donald Trump, we now know what oligarchy is about.
09:05When Donald Trump was elected president, and I know it seems like a lot longer time ago, but it was only a hundred days.
09:23When Trump was elected president, he had behind him three of the wealthiest people in America.
09:35You remember who those guys were?
09:38He had Elon Musk.
09:40You know Elon.
09:44And he had Mr. Bezos next to him.
09:48And he had Mr. Zuckerberg next to him.
09:53Three wealthiest guys in America standing right behind the president.
10:00But that wasn't enough.
10:02Behind those guys, you had 13 other billionaires that Trump had nominated to become the heads of major federal agencies.
10:16You know, right here in Pennsylvania, back in 1863, at that terrible Battle of Gettysburg, where 20,000 Union soldiers were either killed or wounded.
10:37A few days later, as you all remember, President Abraham Lincoln came to the battlefield.
10:43And he looked at that terrible battlefield, where just a few days ago, so many people had died.
10:49And he said in so many words, what we believe in is a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
11:02And what Trump has made perfectly clear, he doesn't hide it, I've got to give the guy credit for that.
11:24That right now, we have a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class.
11:32And we are not going to accept that.
11:35You have an obscenity in the wealthiest guy in the world, running all over Washington DC, firing thousands and thousands of dedicated federal employees.
11:54At a time when the Social Security Administration doesn't have enough employees right now to service the seniors.
12:05They want to throw away, they want to charge thousands and thousands of people at the Social Security Administration.
12:12At a time when the Veterans Administration is understaffed, they want to lay off 83,000 employees at the VA.
12:30Well, I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, we stand with the veterans of this country.
12:41And we're not going to see a deterioration in their health care or the benefits that they receive.
12:51But it is not just oligarchy that we are dealing with today.
13:03We are looking at an unprecedented attack on the foundations of American democracy,
13:10and under Trump, a movement toward authoritarianism.
13:14You know, the founding fathers of this country were nobody's dummies.
13:24You all recall that they had fought and led the fight against the autocratic king of England,
13:33the most powerful person on earth at that time.
13:37A guy like Trump who thought he had the divine right to rule.
13:45And what these guys did, founding fathers, they said, you know what?
13:50We see what the autocrat in England is doing,
13:54and we're going to have a constitution which provides for separation of powers.
14:00Right?
14:01You all remember that from history class?
14:08So you've got an executive branch, the president, a legislative branch,
14:12Congress, Senate, and a House and a judiciary of federal courts.
14:17And the reason we have that separation of powers is precisely to prevent what Trump is trying to do today.
14:35He is usurping the powers, the appropriation powers of the United States Congress.
14:41Unbelievably, unbelievably, when a court decision comes down that he doesn't like, he says,
14:48we're going to impeach the judge.
14:54But it's not only Congress and the judiciary he is going after.
14:59Again, in an unprecedented way, he is going after the media.
15:06Now, this is a guy who throughout his career has leveled the most savage, vicious attacks on his opponents.
15:15Everybody is crazy.
15:16Everybody is awful.
15:17Everybody is disgusting.
15:18Everybody is terrible.
15:20And yet, when the media criticizes him, he wants to sue them and shut them down.
15:27So we say to Mr. Trump, if you can't accept criticism, get out of the political process.
15:39That's what democracy is about.
15:41Let me talk a little bit about something that the media doesn't talk about and we don't talk about in Congress at all.
16:06And that is the reality that today we have 60% of our people living paycheck to paycheck.
16:16We have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of the country.
16:25And as a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, we now have a corrupt campaign finance system.
16:36In which billionaires in both political parties are controlling the political and legislative agenda.
16:47And I think this is an issue whether you're a Republican, Progressive, Conservative, whatever you may be.
16:57Nobody thinks that American democracy is about Elon Musk contributing $270 million to elect Trump and then becoming the most important person in government.
17:12So brothers and sisters, when we talk about the future of America and our political system, at the top of our agenda must be the need to end this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
17:31And move to public funding of elections.
17:50Now let me tell you something which you're not going to hear much about in the corporate media.
17:58And you're not going to hear much about in the halls of Congress.
18:03And that is that today, that is that today, the average American worker in real inflation accounted for dollars is earning less than he or she did 50 years ago.
18:23Now you know why the American people are angry?
18:28They're angry.
18:29They're angry because they're looking around them.
18:32They're seeing a huge increase in worker productivity.
18:37And yet all of that wealth is going to the people on top, not to the working class of this country.
18:47And we are here tonight, we are here today, to say loudly and clearly that we demand an economy that works for all of us, not just the people on top.
19:00And by the way, we need a Democratic Party which makes a fundamental choice.
19:18And that is, are you on the side of the working class of this country or not?
19:37There are millions of working people whose families used to vote Democratic.
19:43And they look and they say, why do we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country?
19:50Why is it that I'm working longer hours for lower wages?
19:54Why is it that I can't afford health care?
19:56Why is it that I can't afford my rent or my mortgage?
19:59Why is it that I can't afford to send my kid to college?
20:04And the Democratic Party is finally going to have to say, we stand with those people.
20:10We are prepared to take on the greed of corporate America.
20:25But when we talk about the Democratic Party, it is not just domestic issues, and I'm going to get into that in a moment.
20:32It is also foreign policy as well.
20:37Donald Trump, Donald Trump believes that Ukraine started the war with Russia.
20:46Well, Mr. Trump, get your history correct.
20:52It was Russia and that terrible dictator Vladimir Putin that began that war.
20:59And we will stand with democracy and not with authoritarian people all over the world.
21:11But it's not just Ukraine.
21:16I strongly oppose Biden's continued military support to the horrific Netanyahu war against the people of Gaza.
21:26all over the world of Gaza.
21:51Since that war began, over 50,000 people have been killed, over 110,000 wounded, and the
22:01entire infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed.
22:07Right now, as bad as that, and I want you to hear this because this is important, as
22:12bad as what Biden has did and what Trump is now doing, Trump has another idea, which is
22:18so crazy, so unimaginable, that you can't really believe they are seriously talking about it.
22:25But what they are talking about today is forcibly expelling 2.2 million Palestinians from their
22:35own place of living, and converting Gaza into a playground for the rich.
22:47A new Riviera for Trump and his friends.
22:55We will never, never allow that to happen.
22:59Now, I work in the U.S. Senate, so I am around people who are able to talk more and say less
23:16than any group of human beings in the history of the world.
23:20So when we talk about where we want to go as a nation, we have got to talk with some specificity,
23:28not in general terms.
23:29And what I am begging of you is when you hear candidates who want your vote, be tough on
23:35them.
23:36Ask them hard questions.
23:38Ask them hard questions.
23:43Are they unequivocally prepared to reject corporate PAC funding?
23:49At a time when billionaires have enormous power in both parties, are they prepared to work vigorously
24:05to overturn Citizens United.
24:16Today in America, the top wealthiest person in this country, if you can believe it,
24:23owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of households.
24:28Got that? One guy.
24:32Top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 93%.
24:41CEOs now make 350 times more than their average workers.
24:52So these people on top, they are very religious people.
24:57But it's a strange kind of religion.
25:02You know, all of the major religions on earth speak in one way or another about doing unto others as you would like them to do unto you.
25:13Right?
25:14Christianity, Judaism, Islam, whatever.
25:19Kind of that's the heart and soul of many major religions.
25:23What the religion of these oligarchs are is greed, greed, and more greed.
25:30And that greed is destroying our country.
25:35We've got to stand up to it and end it.
25:38So it is not just about not giving them massive tax breaks that Trump wants, it's about telling these large corporations and billionaires they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes.
26:05All over America, workers want to join unions.
26:18And they want to join unions because they know that when you're in a union, you can negotiate decent wages, working conditions, and benefits.
26:30But employers know that too.
26:35And they're making it harder and harder for workers to join unions.
26:39That's why we need to pass legislation that punishes any employer who denies workers the constitutional right to form a union.
26:47Here in Pennsylvania and in many parts of this country, there are workers earning starvation wages.
27:04Millions of workers all over America.
27:06Shamefully, the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour.
27:15Can you believe that?
27:18Nobody in America can live on seven and a quarter an hour.
27:21That is why we've got to raise that federal minimum wage to at least $17 an hour.
27:27As I mentioned, I was in Harrisburg yesterday talking to some kids.
27:40And many of them want to be able to go to college, go to graduate school.
27:46A young lady wanted to be a pediatrician.
27:48Somebody wanted to be a psychologist.
27:50Others wanted to be construction workers, get the training they need to do the work this country desperately needs.
27:56But they were all worried about whether or not they could afford to go to college and the huge kind of debt they would assume if they did go to college.
28:06We need the best educated workforce in the world.
28:11We need more doctors.
28:15We need more nurses.
28:17We need more mental health counselors.
28:19We need more electricians, sheet metal workers, carpenters.
28:23Young people should not have to go into a lifetime of debt in order to get the education they need and our country needs from them.
28:3822% of seniors in America, the richest country on earth, are living on $15,000 a year or less.
28:56Can you believe that?
28:57Try being a senior living on $15,000.
29:00Try being anybody living on $15,000.
29:03Some Republicans want to cut Social Security.
29:08We are not going to cut Social Security.
29:11We are going to expand Social Security by lifting the cap on taxable income.
29:16The United States of America today is the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right.
29:35We spend over $14,000 per person on health care and yet we got 85 million Americans, uninsured, underinsured, over 60,000 die each year.
29:51Because they can't get to a doctor on time.
29:54The function of health care is not to make billions for drug companies and insurance companies.
30:02The function of a rational health care system is to provide quality care to every man, woman and child.
30:15We are going to do that through a Medicare for All single-payer program.
30:19And all over this country, Pennsylvania, Vermont and all locations, we are suffering a major housing crisis.
30:37You got 20 million people spending 50% or more of their limited incomes on housing.
30:44You got 800,000 people sleeping out on the streets.
30:50Instead of spending a trillion dollars on the military, how about building 5 million units of low income and affordable housing?
30:59So brothers and sisters, this is a difficult moment in American history.
31:15But we have had difficult moments in our history before.
31:20And I have every confidence that if we are prepared to reject what Trump and his friends want to do and that is divide us up,
31:31get us to hate each other for whatever reason, the color of our skin or where we were born or our sexual orientation.
31:39If we stand together around an agenda that speaks for working people, there is nothing that can stop us.
32:03Now, I'm not going to lie to you, the oligarchs, they are enormously powerful.
32:10They have unlimited amounts of money, they control the political process, they own the media, they own the economy.
32:16That's a lot of power.
32:18But what I believe, at the end of the day, and I'm not a PhD in mathematics,
32:25but I do know that 99% is a hell of a larger number than 1%.
32:40So we got a lot of work in front of us, we really do.
32:44And this rally is just a small part of what we're trying to do.
32:48We're trying to get you and others to start running for office.
32:52We need candidates from school board to Congress.
32:56We need help in growing the trade union movement.
32:59We need organizations on campus dealing with climate and other important issues.
33:04So let today be the beginning, not the end.
33:13Let us go forward.
33:15And in these very, very difficult times, make sure that our grandchildren and those who come after them
33:23look back at this moment and say, we stood up, we had the courage, we took on authoritarianism, and we won.