Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent who recently secured a fourth six-year Senate term, reiterated his critique of the Democratic Party’s appeal to the working class and responded to Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s counterargument.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union and NBC’s Meet the Press, Sanders addressed his earlier statement, issued after President-elect Trump’s decisive win over Vice President Harris in the 2024 election. “Look, the working people of this country are extremely angry,” Sanders told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “They have a right to be angry in the richest country in the history of the world. Today, the people on top are doing phenomenally well, while 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Millions of families worry that their kids have actually got to have a lower standard of living than they do.”
He continued, “You got the top 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 90%. We’re the only major country not to guarantee health care to all of our people. Twenty-five percent of our seniors are trying to live on $50,000 a year or less. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. And the gap between the people at the top and everybody else is getting wider and wider. And then, of course, that on top of all of that, we’ve got a corrupt campaign finance system which allows billionaires to buy elections. So if you’re an average worker out there, you’re saying, ‘Hey, I’m working longer and longer hours, go nowhere in a hurry, worried about my kids.’ And yet the people on top, ‘I’ve never had it so good.’”
Sanders, who caucuses with Senate Democrats, remarked on Wednesday, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
Pelosi responded on Saturday, telling The New York Times’ The Interview podcast, “I have a great deal of respect for Senator Sanders, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned working class families.” She emphasized Democratic achievements under President Biden, highlighting “the rescue package, money in the pockets of people, the shots in the arm, children in school safely, working people back to work.” Pelosi contrasted this with Trump’s record: “What did Trump do when he was president? One bill that gave a tax cut to the richest people in America.”
NBC’s Welker played Pelosi’s comments for Sanders and asked him to respond. “Nancy is a friend of mine,” Sanders replied, “But here is the reality. In the Senate in the last two years, we have not even brought forth legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage despite the fact that some 20 million people in this country are working for less than $15 an hour.” Sanders criticized the Senate’s Democratic majority for failing to pass worker-friendly policies, citing issues such as union support, benefit pension plans, and Social Security reform.
“Bottom line, if you’re a working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic Party is going to the max, taking on powerful special interests and fighting for you? I think the overwhelming answer is no,” he said.
While Sanders acknowledged Biden’s efforts to advance progressive domestic policies, he pointed to Trump’s resonance with working-class voters. “What Donald Trump did is provided an explanation. He went around, he said, ‘I know you’re angry. And the reason is that zillions of illegal immigrants are coming over, and they’re eating your cats and dogs and everything else.’ That’s the reason. Well, obviously, that is not the reason,” Sanders argued. “The reason is, in my view, that we have an unprecedented level of corporate greed today, more income and wealth inequality. And people on top want it all. And we need an agenda that says to the working class, ‘We’re going to take on these powerful special interests and create an economy and a government that works for you.’ And by the way, that can’t happen unless you get big money out of politics. We’ve got to get rid of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision so billionaires do not continue to buy elections.”
