Bernie Sanders Defends Rallies In Solid Red States, Says Oligarchy Message Will 'Resonate'

Speaking to CNN's Dana Bash, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was asked about his decision to hold rallies in states that Trump won comfortably in 2024.

Transcript

00:00It's good to be with you here.

00:02We're in Wheeling, West Virginia, and it's so fascinating that this is part of what you call your Fighting the Oligarchy Tour,

00:10because this is a state where Donald Trump got 70 percent.

00:15Really?

00:1670 percent.

00:16No, not tonight.

00:17Well, yeah, and this was an auditorium that was packed.

00:20It was at capacity.

00:23Still, what makes you think that your message tonight is going to resonate in such a red state?

00:29Well, among other things, when I ran for president, I think here in West Virginia, we won every single county.

00:36Look, this is a working class state.

00:38It's one of the poorest states in the country.

00:40People are hurting, and they want candidates to come before them to stand up for the working class

00:47and take on the oligarchs who have so much economic and political power.

00:52So I think the message will resonate here.

00:56I think it will resonate in many red states throughout the country, because at the end of the day,

01:0160 percent of our people live in paycheck to paycheck.

01:05They don't want to see tax breaks for billionaires.

01:08They don't want to see the rich get richer.

01:10They want health care as a human right.

01:12They want to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.

01:15They want to be able to live in housing that they can afford.

01:17One of the things that you talked about here, as you've been talking about since even before it passed,

01:23is what the president calls this big, beautiful bill.

01:26Cuts to Medicaid, other programs.

01:2825 percent of West Virginians receive Medicaid.

01:3215 percent rely on food stamps.

01:36And yet, as I mentioned, West Virginians overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump.

01:40How do you square that circle?

01:42Well, that's a longer story that has to do with the failure of the Democratic Party in general

01:46to speak to the needs of the working class.

01:49This used to be, decades ago, one of the strongest Democratic states in the country.

01:52Now it's a strong Republican state, because I think in many ways,

01:55Democratic Party has turned its back on what was its base.

01:59But I think our job and the reason I'm here and the reason we go to red states all over the country

02:06is to make it clear that there are some of us who are prepared to stand up for the working class.

02:12And if we become, if we stand together, if we're united, if we don't let Trump divide us up,

02:17there is no stopping what we can do as a nation in terms of improving life for ordinary people.