Talking With Bernie Sanders

ladies and gentlemen boys girls and mb's we have Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont here on the broadcast a way to finally close the circle a person that is endlessly impactful in American politics for especially our corner of American politics a person that I believe is uh profoundly important in revitalizing the leftist movement in this country uh Bernie Sanders thank you so much for everything you've done and also thank you for coming on the broadcast well my pleasure to be with you and thank you for what you are doing you are part of a revolution in

media today which is talking uh to millions of people who are tuning out of Legacy Media and thanks for what you're doing so we have a limited amount of time so I'm going to get right into it um as far as your impact goes I think uh we should probably start off with uh where you foresee the future of the left movement going in American politics well what I am most optimistic about is a revitalization of the Trade union movement in this country uh a growth in class Consciousness uh workers beginning to stand up and

take on corporate greed stand up to the massive levels of income and wealth inequality that we have today and I think the future of American politics is bringing young people people of color women women together in a movement led by the Trade union movement which demands that we end oligarchy in America and that's something I'd like to talk with you a little bit about kassan uh and move toward not only a democratic political system but an economy where all of our people in the wealthiest Nation on earth have a decent standard of living that is

not a radical idea we can do it but we can't do it unless we bring people together around the progressive agenda absolutely speaking of the oligarchy uh we of course have uh the anti-corruption candidate uh Donald Trump who ran on draining the swamp the first time and then only uh seemingly worse in the conditions of the swamp uh now aligned directly with one of the top oligarchs the actual top oligarch the wealthiest person on the planet Elon Musk and uh I feel like you've had some conversations uh about Elon Musk especially in uh recent weeks

and I was wondering how you feel about Donald Trump cozying up to all of these billionaires and these billionaires especially in the tech sector including but not limited to Elon Musk cozying back up to Donald Trump and a Resurgence of right-wing politics in the country Hassan this is of enormous enormous consequence there's something more important that is happening not only in American politics but in World politics let's think about it for a moment what you got in uh Elon Musk is in fact the wealthiest guy in the world worth over 400 billion dollars I mean

it's just astronomical me you know mentioning that along with Zuckerberg Bezos the three of them are worth almost A8 trillion dollar they're all going to be at Trump's uh side during his inauguration uh musk is going to play an active role uh in quote unquote transforming government what is all of this stuff is about what it's about is moving incredibly rapidly toward an oligarchic form of society where the very wealthiest people will not only own the economy not only own the media I mean Bezos owns the Washington BST M controls or owns Twitter uh but

also own the political system one of the issues that we don't talk about enough is that during this last election a small tiny number of people multi-billionaires huge amounts of money into both political parties and that is to my mind not what democracy is about so you got control of the media by the few control of the political system by the few control of the economy by the few and if that's not oligarchy I don't know what oligarchy is our job is to bring our people together the vast majority of the people demand a vibrant

democracy getting rid of citizens united one person one vote limiting the amount of money big money can spend on politics and creating an economy in the richest country on Earth that guarantees a decent standard of living for all people that's the challenge what do you think Elon Musk is going to do in terms of privatization uh when he is uh basically in charge of numerous uh numerous government agencies now like he's going to have control or at least a tremendous amount more influence direct influence over uh numerous government agencies some of which uh are tasked

with regulating his companies exactly and it's not just don't look at it is him having control over this or that agency it's the enormous impact that the wealthiest guy on earth a very smart guy and a very Dynamic hardworking guy what he going to have over the totality of the uh government and the Trump Administration what does it mean these guys do not believe in government they aggressive L believe in deregulation uh they believe in more and more wealth and power people on top right now you don't hear uh Mr musk talking about the need

to provide Health Care to all people as a human right I don't hear Mr musk talking about the need to make sure that all of our people have decent education or live in safe affordable housing that you don't need you're talking about is an expansion and growth in technology which will benefit the people on top and in my view at the expense of ordinary people and you know what else is kind of unique about musk a little bit different other guys this guy increasingly you may have noticed talking about people with super high IQs have

you heard that yeah I haven't heard that kind of language in a very long time you're talking about a kind of an a superior aristocracy who all so smart and know all about technology of all kinds of wealth who are living these extraordinary lives and they're going to be running the world for us and the challenge of the moment is that with an exploding technology that has the capability of improving life for all we've got to make sure that that happens and not see more increased wealth and power going to the people on top which

is exactly what musk is all about these guys are smart they are aggressive they want even more wealth they want even more power they are enormously dangerous what's going on right now is unprecedented this is not just you know Rich guys oh boy I'd like some more money I need another 14th house they want power power to go with their wealth what would you say to the growing resentment from the American working class against political institutions the elite and specifically our our government um do you feel like this level of deregulation and privatization uh and

and the erosion of government social safety nets and government programs have contributed to that resentment absolutely look you're the average guy out there you're not into politics what are you saying you're seeing that in many ways you are no better off in some cases worse off than a worker in your place 50 years ago you got that real inflation accounted for wages for the average American worker despite the huge increase in worker productivity and Technology all the computers all the cell phones an average worker in real inflation accounts for dollars not making a nickel more

than he or she did 50 years ago and during that period a massive transfer of wealth bottom 90% to the top 1% and you're looking around you and you're kid you're worried that your children may be in even worse Financial shape than are they may never own A Home of Their Own look at a government you're hearing all the political that's out there I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that and yet maybe your job went to China it's likely that you have a high deductible you may not have any health insurance

at all maybe a kid made it to college and he or she is deeply in debt and you're saying does democracy really work for me and a lot of people are concluded concluding no it doesn't and they're willing to move toward a more authoritarian type Society run by Donald Trump you know what Trump said in so many words he said you know what this system is broken I'm going to smash it well he's right the system is broken problem is his Solutions are going to make a bad situation even worse our job is to acknowledge

what Democrats don't you know what the system is broken we need to rebuild the system people together we can do it it should not be the only major country on Earth not guaranteeing Healthcare to all people as a human right you think we can't build millions of units of affordable housing you think we can't reach out to the world and address climate change I think we can tough stuff none of this is easy we can do it a lot of people are essentially saying I'm sick and tired I've heard all of it over and over

again it ain't working for me status quo is not what I want I want change Trump may be crazy he may be a pathological liar he's going to bring about change so that's what I think we're dealing with do you feel like this was a crisis in communication from the Democratic Party in the past election cycle that led to the defeat of KLA Harris no no I don't I don't think it's a question of communication I think it's what the Democrats stand for so you know it's not messaging is Art so if the Democrats believe

does the Democratic Leadership believe that the current system is broken you tell me have you heard that people go around saying look there's something wrong when we have massive income and wealth inequality when the only major country not to guarantee Health Care to all people when you got 800,000 people sleeping out on the streets when we have an opioid epidemic when our public schools are failing you know what guess what system ain't working do you hear Democrats say you tell me I mean I'm sitting in the Beltway I don't hear it do you hear it

on the outside world no um absolutely not uh that's why I was wondering what your uh opinion is is it is it malicious is it incompetence is it cuz we are now seeing the likes of Chris Murphy for example uh come to terms with a more left-wing populist message that they want to adopt now you say that it's more so it's more than just the message it's actually about dramatically changing the policy dramatically changing the direction away from this uh zealotry that they display in terms of Defending Third Way neol Lial ISM uh and and

I 100% agree with that but is the is will there actually be a change in your estimation within the Democratic party uh do they do they actually want to win elections do they actually want to change uh the trajectory of American politics away from the the throws of fascism they want to win elections absolutely are they willing to take on their corporate sponsors how do we build sustainable and people who finance the campaigns in order to do what is popular and what the American people want which is the way you win elections let me give

you just many examples I mean I can throw it out uh it is one thing to say okay we are opposing Trump's effort perhaps to throw millions of people off of the Affordable Care Act we all agree that should not happen it's another thing to ask why it is we're spending twice as much per capita on healthare and 85 million people are uninsured or underinsured Insurance costs are going up the question there is is our health care System broken or not I think many Democrats are prepared to say yeah it's broken we need a new

system we need to move toward Medicare for all are there some Democrats who are beginning to catch on that there is something wrong when they have lost a significant part of the white working class and now the Latino working class some of the black working class are people beginning to catch on that maybe we've got to address some of the issues that are impacting the lives of working people yeah I think some are are enough no I don't think so how do you feel about the marina victory in Mexico if you don't mind me asking

because we did see uh a somewhat older figure in amlo uh transitioning power away after seeing tremendous success with the expansion of the welfare state and and social safety nets and and trying to Target to the best of his ability uh inflationary uh the the inflation crisis that many other Western liberal capitalist Nations faced where we saw historically unpopular uh incumbent disadvantages amlo was able to transfer power away from himself to a younger uh uh female candidate Claudia Shin bomb so clearly even in North America there is an example of of uh a a Social

Democratic party becoming even more popular in the aftermath of this election look it it ain't complicated if you do what your constituents want you to do I what they're going to vote for you I mean it's kind of basic politics if you ignore their needs and say well you just don't appreciate all that we have done for you you don't know how good you have it well you know what they say you know I'll screw you uh I'm not doing well I would also mention to you uh that when we passed in the throws of

the pandemic the American Rescue plan which provided Direct Cash payment tens of millions of Americans extended unemployment put a whole lot of money into Child Care kept people from getting evicted uh lowered the childhood poverty rate through a child tax credit at that particular particular point after that bill was passed guess what Biden's popularity was the highest that it was throughout his administration you tell me just tell me if the Democratic party said you know what in the first three months of a democratic presidency a democratic Congress every American will have health care as a

human right without having to take out your wallet because it's a human right we're going to fund it in a Progressive Way publicly no more in insurance premiums co- payments deductibles if the Democrats pulled that off how incredibly popular do you think they would be you tell me absolutely missing no absolutely um do you think that it's the impact of of uh money in politics that uh causes Democrats to be afraid of uh taking the initiative on issues like this or is it more pervasive and and unfortunately scarier than that because I I'm a firm

believer that aside from the lobbying dollars I think that there is a crisis of like elitism I would say where you have immediate family members of Democratic party officials and of course the Republican Party officials as well that go to work in these corporations so there is it's it's a more complex web Beyond even lobbying uh in terms of the the conflict of interest in my opinion between uh members of Congress and and the corporate Elite I think you're right I think it is both factors let us not minimize role that money plays period uh

every American I don't give a damn what your political views are should be really frightened that three multi-billionaires in the Republican Party could put hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump's campaign Democrats also had many billionaires contributing and if you think those guys are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts you would be mistaken obviously uh they want to elect candidates who will represent uh their interests and the second thing related kind of what you are saying son is that people live in a certain world uh one of the crises of the corrupt

campaign Finance system we have is not only the impact of money many of my colleagues are spending 20 30% of their days you know what they do they are out talking to their workingclass constituents they're on the phone raising money from wealthy people they're going to you know House parties with wealthy people when you surround yourself with folks who have come from a certain world perspective you know I'm running a corporation let me tell you about all my problems I'm having it's not hey I can't pay my rent let me tell you about my problems

you live in a certain milu I think is what you're talking about and that becomes separated from reality does that take place is that happening I think it is yeah I uh I noticed that I was the most out of touch with the outside world when I was directly at the DNC uh despite being online the entire time that I I definitely noticed that that there is a bubble uh surrounding uh I would say the Rust Belt for sure or not the Rust Belt sorry the uh the DC class and the media class I think

are are certainly uh it really is it really is it really is I've said this a million times and it's not just the politicians it's the inside the Beltway media I cannot recall I have done 12 zillion interviews in my political life over the years there's nobody who's come up to me and said Bernie we have massive income and wealth inequality do you think we should do about it Bernie uh what are you going to do about the fact that 25% of seniors in this country living on $155,000 a year year or less what are

you going to do about that what are you going to do about the fact that so many people are homeless those are questions that one is not asked one is never asked about income and wealth Inequality For example just not on it's not part of the mindset of media or for that matter politicians and we got to break through that we have got to break through it because it is on the mindset of ordinary Americans um so Switching gears a little bit but going back to the Democratic Pary performance uh in these past four years

under uh Joe Biden how where where would you rank uh Biden's performance across the board because there were certainly a lot of uh good things that occurred I think pulling out of Afghanistan was a success and it was uh the appropriate thing to do even though it was not uh defended adequately by the Democratic Administration in my opinion and the media definitely uh was very gung-ho about um continuously punishing Biden uh there were also initiatives like you said the expansion of child tax credit uh and and wonderful work done by the nlrb and many other

Regulatory Agencies like the FDC specifically um but it did seem as though uh one these successes and the impact was not seen as as tangible tangible things that the American working class could associate with um but outside of that do you feel as though uh it did didn't meet the standards that are necessary uh for improving the material conditions of the working class right now excellent question and here's the answer I think if you look objectively uh at what Biden has accomplished domestically domestically it is probably the strongest record of achievement since anybody since FDR

in the 30s what you're talking about is rebuilding our crumbling infrast structure and creating a huge number of jobs uh making real progress in rebuilding Manufacturing in America first president really to take on big farma uh and have some impact in lowering the cost of prescription drugs most notably beginning to negotiate uh prescription drug prices under Medicare investing very heavily in climate change and sustainable uh energy uh a president who was unashamedly unashamedly Pro labor walked on a pickle line with the honored automobile workers that is a strong record that's only part of what he

did problem is the record is strong but I think he is not was not been the kind of leader and Communicator that made that uh record understandable to the American people and second of all even more importantly well that is an admirable record that he should be very proud of I'm proud to have work with him on some of those things uh the truth is given where the American worker is today it is simply not enough what the American worker is crying out for is why are my wages today no higher than they were in

real dollars 50 years ago if we could have raised the minimum wage to say 17 bucks an hour that would have made a hell of a lot of difference difference in the lives of millions of lowincome people uh if we could have expanded Medicare at least cover hearing dental vision Home Health Care would have made a real real difference I think also while President Biden has accomplished a lot he does not do what Trump does and identify enemies who are the impediments to progress well Trump has his ideas all undocumented people and it's transgender people

whoever it may be he has a set of enemies kind of change every day but they're out there I don't think the Biden Administration is strong enough in saying you know what we've got to stop the greed of the corporate world right now not just the drug companies but the insurance companies sectors all over they talk about it but not quite forcefully enough and to present specific policies to deal with that Alina KH who is I guess in the next few days remains a chair of the FDC has done a brilliant job absolutely know and

it's one of the heroes heroins of that Administration I think you got to be clearer in saying why is it that the rich are getting richer and so many other people are struggling we need an explanation for that I'm not sure that the Biden people were strong on doing that as they should have been we don't have a lot of time so I want to uh ask you uh something about about the green New Deal um in your green New Deal proposal uh you proposed $18 billion increase in National spending specifically to address the more

frequent and severe wildfires plaguing the American West um this was of course uh widely panned by uh the media and also politicians that are backed by the oil and gas industry uh and yet the $18 billion is marginal in comparison to the uh total damage that we've seen in California in Los Angeles this past week uh some estimates ranging from uh the most conservative estimates ranging from $50 billion to upwards of a hundred billion um how do we communicate to the American public that uh initiatives like the green New Deal are an absolute necessity going

forward in order to truly tackle the climate crisis that is going to seemingly increase these extreme once in a lifetime natural disasters that's the problem they're no longer Hassan you're exactly right they are no longer once in a lifetime um they're no longer once in a decade and by the way while I'm here with you let me just I love La you know I get out there fairly often and I what's going on is unimaginable and I know people are suffering just so worried and um we're going to do what we can to help rebuild

La your point is well I think there are two points that need to be made we have got to comeback every ounce of strength that we have people like Trump who think that climate change is a hoax this is as I understand that the warmest year on record uh followed by nine preceding years which were the warmest years on record climate change is real you're seeing in La is part of what we're seeing all over the world massive um climate disturbances and uh it's going to happen it's going to continue to happen I I mean

it's it's horrible to almost think of this say that what's going on in LA today will become fairly common in years to come but unless the global Community comes together recognize that we got to change our Energy Systems got to take on the lies and the greed of the fossil f industry we have to do with the green New Deal is about create millions of good paying jobs in Energy Efficiency and sustainable energy and we can do it we can do it and yes what the green New Deal was about is saying look that in

itself is not going to solve the global climate crisis but it'll give States and communities better resources in order to deal with the crises that are definitely going to come as we try to transform the system do you feel like the back and forth political uh conversations or uh even blaming the likes of Dei or whatever the new Republican thing is on any given basis is simply a misdirection away from the actual uh the the actual reasons as to why anthropogenic climate change is accelerating these uh extreme weather events it makes me Furious it really

does now presumably what's going on in La is all because you have a Democratic governor a democratic mayor but then they're going to have to explain why we've had all this terrible flooding and other disasters in very red States all across this country you got to be a not to understand that climate change does not give a damn whether you're a democrat or a republican it is real so yes this is simply an attempt to deflate attention much needed attention on why climate change is causing devastating problems in La throughout our country my small state

of ront in the last number of years has been hit time and again floods which have wrecked Havoc for hundreds and hundreds of homeowners small business people our state capital is still impacted by the flood we had a few years ago this is a global crisis those people who are still trying to deny it in order to protect the profits of the fossil fuel industry I really don't understand it their kids are going to suffer their grandchildren are going to suffer I don't know what they think they're gaining by po playing a political game with

an issue of such assential importance it seems like it's a short-term profit seeking which has uh absolutely eviscerated American manufacturing as well as uh ruined uh even the consumer experience that Americans have in general over uh year over-year uh it's basically a race of the bottom putting uh the interest of profits over the interest of people I I had a I had another question about about this in particular Mike Johnson has uh made inferences to potentially offering conditional Aid to the state of California in terms of recovery um in your experience uh you've you've spent

many decades in American Congress um have you ever seen this level of of uh politicization in the aftermath of uh any sort of natural disaster and uh do you feel like Mike Johnson is doing this specifically because they want to to potentially use as a as a way to pass through budget reconciliations without much uh without much uh problems down the line I think I have seen a little bit of the stuff in the past but not to the extent that we're seeing it right now it really is Biden and Obama I think if you

check their records uh they gave out disaster relief and other types of federal funding really the red States quite as generously or ungenerously as they did the blue States they really did not discriminate the idea that the largest state in our country which has been just devastated by this terrible fly fire uh that they are going to be playing politics With Disaster Relief is unconscionable between you and me I don't think that they will succeed because what goes around comes around and you do not I don't want to see if you know God forbid Ida

Idaho is hit by something we say well it's a Republican state we're not going to give them the help they need this is America you know we're a 50 state country and we have territories we treat all people equally and there is a disaster what being a country is about is we all come to each other's Aid if remont gets hit hard by something I expect the people of California to help us California gets hit people of Vermont got to be there for you and doesn't matter whether you're Democrat Republican independent whatever you are that

has got to be the basic tenant how we do federal disaster relief um one last uh question I have for you uh Before I Let You Go and thank you so much for spending time with us today um I've heard from your team that uh you have been doing this uh this this event in Vermont uh where you go and play basketball with uh some of your constituents um number one uh when can we ball because I would that is a dream of mine and also number two I've I've heard that you were um you

had some wonderful experiences that uh made you feel like people are desperate for a sense of community right now and some some semblance of community organizing son the reason we're doing this you know we're paying this out of campaign funds is I think in Vermont and all over this country there is a desperate need for Community uh we did during the holiday season in December four events around the state in communities like and smaller was just a fantastic thing totally non-political just people coming out and doing Christmas carols and kanuka stuff and just you know

having you know eggnog and kids are there and we had local kids entertaining and people singing along with the kids beautiful experience uh We've now done 69 we've now done nine basketball events and what I want to do there is to suddenly bringing people out is I worry the kids are spending too much time on their cell phones kids are isolated uh so we do these events and we have follow shooting contests for the little kids and the middle school kids the high school kids uh and we give a free basketball good basketball to all

of the kids who come with a hope that these kids will become more active go out play some ball uh not sit uh home on their phones all of the time we also do a chess tournament every year year we do a choir event every year uh we do essay contests you know we want to involve the kids in many of these kids are really struggling these are tough times for kids in in high school middle school so we're trying to reach out and bring people uh together in in what little ways we can all

right well I look forward to coming to Vermont I I and and playing basketball with you Senator and yeah I I I play basketball quite a bit I'm training right I'm training to see you on the courts all right you got it come on love to see you all right well thank you so much for coming on Senator Sanders like I said you're in an incredibly impactful person uh for many people in my community and I'm very fortunate that uh you uh wanted to come on and hopefully uh you know if I do come to

Vermont maybe we can have a much longer conversation as well let's do it all right thank you so much have a great one bye all right that was Senator Bernie Sanders ladies and gentlemen I didn't have time to get to every single thing that I wanted to talk to they they extended the time that uh we were supposed to talk to one another over uh an additional 5 minutes but hopefully I was able to shed some light you know on on some of the pressing questions that at least I had and maybe some questions that

you had as well but yeah we're going to do uh that the balling thing is not a joke I am going to do that for sure this is a way to close that Circle though cuz honestly listen for myself and many others in this community I think especially for a lot of the younger Chatters Like Bernie Sanders was uh quite an impactful politician uh that that caused many people to recognize what their own personal political perspective look like I mean he showed an entire generation that there is an alternative way of looking at things an

alternative way of understanding politics I think he he communicated he reins stilled uh confidence amongst uh many Americans that felt cast aside by Congress by politicians in general