Bernie Sanders Mocks Trump, Thanks Him For 'Educating The American People About What Oligarchy Is'

Forbes Breaking News

At a "Fight Oligarchy Tour' event in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about President Trump nominating several billionaires to be members of his cabinet.

Transcript

00:00We are living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control our government.

00:15You know, for many years I have been talking about oligarchy and American people said,

00:21well, you know, Bernie, Bernie has just given a speech.

00:25But anybody, I have to thank, you know, Trump for educating the American people about what oligarchy is.

00:41You know, we can talk about it as an abstraction, but when Trump gets inaugurated and standing right behind him,

00:50and I had the remarkable, unreal, surreal experience of being in the front row, just like you guys are.

00:59I got pushed into that, I don't know how, but there I was.

01:03And there's Trump taking the oath of office, and right behind him are the three wealthiest people in America.

01:10Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos, and Mr. Zuckerberg.

01:21And if that is not enough to make you understand that we're living in an oligarchy,

01:27right behind them were 13 other billionaires that Trump had nominated to head up major federal agencies.

01:37And then, then, it's not only that we are living in an oligarchy and have a government of billionaires.

01:58I mean, that's bad. You know, I was thinking recently, I wish that I had been a better student in the sixth grade of American history.

02:09But I remember, and many of you will remember, Abraham Lincoln in 1863 in Gettysburg.

02:16Remember what he said? That's what he said. He was looking out on the battlefield.

02:24He had come there just a few days after the terrible battle where 20,000 Union soldiers fighting slavery,

02:35fighting to end slavery, had either died or been wounded. 20,000 soldiers.

02:40And he looked out on that field. And this is what he said. He said that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

02:57That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.

03:09And then remember what he said? And that government of the people

03:15shall not perish from the earth.

03:32And that's why we're here.

03:36We do not want a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class,

03:42for the billionaire class. We want a government that represents all of us, not just the 1%.

04:01We don't want the richest guy on earth running all over Washington, D.C.,

04:08throwing tens of thousands of dedicated federal workers out on the street,

04:15slashing the Social Security Administration,

04:23so that elderly disabled people are going to find it really hard to get the information they need to access Social Security.

04:36We don't want Mr. Musk and his friends proposing to lay off 83,000 employees at the Veterans Administration.

04:52We believe that the men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend this country deserve the highest quality health care.

05:04We don't want Mr. Musk and his friends running around slashing USAID.

05:09We don't want Mr. Musk and his friends running around slashing USAID.

05:14You know, some of the proudest things I think we feel is when we know our government has done things to help the poor.

05:15the poorest people on earth, children who would die of preventable diseases.

05:22We don't want Mr. Musk and his friends running around slashing USAID.

05:27You know, some of the proudest things I think we feel is when we know our government has done things to help the poorest people on earth,

05:40children who would die of preventable diseases.

05:44That's what makes us a great country.

05:57And what makes all of this stuff even worse is that all of these cuts,

06:04the Social Security, to the VA, to USAID, et cetera, et cetera,

06:10they are designed to do one thing.

06:13And that is to give massive tax breaks to the top 1%.

06:18At a time when our health care system is already broken,

06:27they want to cut Medicaid by $880 billion.

06:35They want to cut nutrition programs for hungry kids.

06:43So they can give Mr. Musk and the other billionaires a huge tax break.

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