'Not A Pleasant Experience': Sanders Recalls Trump's Inauguration During Tirade Against Billionaires

During a Wisconsin stop on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized billionaires.

Transcript

00:00Right now you are living in a oligarchic society. Now I am told by some pundits

00:11that the American people don't know what oligarchy is. I think they do. I was, for

00:20better or worse, actually worse, kind of pushed into the front row when Donald

00:26Trump was inaugurated. I was sitting about where you are sitting. Not a pleasant

00:31experience. And as some of you may recall, right behind Trump, sitting behind Trump,

00:40were the three wealthiest guys in America, Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Zuckerberg. And

00:50then sitting behind them were another 13 billionaires that Trump had nominated to

00:58serve as heads of major federal agencies. And as I was sitting there, I really did,

01:06I was reflecting on American history and reflecting that way back in 1863, as some of

01:14you will remember from your history books, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg. And he

01:21was there a few days after that terrible battle where thousands of Union soldiers had died to

01:28put an end to the abomination of slavery. And Lincoln stood there and he wrote this speech

01:35very quickly. And he said, looking out on that field, we're just a few days before people had

01:40died by the thousands. And he said, you know, we have, I'm paraphrasing, we have a vision of

01:47government. And our vision of government that these men did not die in vain for is to establish

01:56and maintain a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

02:09And as I sat at Trump's inaugural and I looked around, what it was clear to me is today we have a

02:29government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class.

02:36And what I can tell you, as someone who has traveled all across this country, is the American people

02:47will not accept oligarchy. We will not accept kleptocracy. We will not accept authoritarianism.

03:00So that is what the struggle is about right now. In America today, and you don't hear too much

03:12about it, so let me tell you, you have more income and wealth inequality in America today than we have

03:19ever had in the history of America. You have today one person, our friend, Mr. Musk, who owns more wealth

03:34than the bottom 52% of American households. Now, you know, it's a funny thing, and this has a lot to do with

03:44who owns the media. What we get outraged about, what we get upset about, what we're allowed to get excited

03:51about, all right? If you step back for a moment and you say that in America in the year 2025,

04:00in the richest country in the history of the world, you got one guy owning more wealth than

04:05the bottom 93% of America. You have the top 1% today, the top 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 93%

04:35of America. You got CEOs of large corporations making 350 times more than their workers.

04:49The people on top today have never ever in the history of this country had it so good.

04:57What's going on for the working families of America?

05:00The truth is, and this is again what I'm trying to get across, is that the media doesn't talk about it,

05:11and my colleagues in Congress by and large don't talk about it. You are living in the wealthiest country

05:17in the history of the world. And yet today, in Wisconsin, Vermont, all over this country,

05:2360% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. All right? I grew up in a family that lived

05:34paycheck to paycheck, lived in a rent-controlled apartment. Family didn't make much money.

05:41All over this country, here in Wisconsin, in Vermont, all over, people are struggling,

05:47trying to figure out how they're going to feed their kids, how they're going to pay the rent,

05:51how they're going to pay for health care. And maybe, dear God, will we have a few bucks saved

05:57for when we retire so we can live with a shred of dignity. This is the wealthiest country in the

06:04history of the world. Sixty percent of our people should not be living paycheck to paycheck.