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TRUMP BERNIE SANDERS SPEAKS Forbes Breaking News: Bernie Sanders Delivers Ferocious Diatribe Against Trump, Musk—Accuses Them Of Creating 'Oligarchy' PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go5xuokhnQY Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
Bernie Sanders Delivers Ferocious Diatribe Against Trump, Musk—Accuses Them Of Creating 'Oligarchy' Forbes Breaking News Feb 4, 2025 4.24M subscribers ... 434,274 views During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) criticized the Trump Administration for moving the country towards 'oligarchy'. Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more: https://account.forbes.com/membership... Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: / forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: / forbes More From Forbes: http://forbes.com Transcript 0:01 uh Mr President today uh weum call I would ask that the quum call be viated without objection Mr President today we find ourselves in a pivotal moment in American history and millions of Americans by their actions or lack of action will determine the future of our country for decades in my view the Trump administ rtion is moving this country very aggressively into an oligarchic form of society where extraordinary power rests in the hands of a small number of unelected multi-billionaires the Trump Administration is moving this country very aggressively into an authoritarian Society where the rule of law and our Constitution are being 1:02 ignored and undermined in order to give more power to the White House and the billionaires who now control our government the Trump Administration is moving this country very rapidly toward a kleptocracy where the function of government is not to serve the needs of ordinary people but to enrich Rich those who are in power Mr President I think that today is a very good day to recall what one of our great presidents said at Gettysburg in November of 1863 looking out at a battlefield where thousands of Union Soldiers had just sacrificed their lives 2:00 in the defense of freedom and the ending of slavery Abraham Lincoln famously stated and I quote the world will little note no longer remember what we say here but it can never forget what they did the soldiers did here it is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to The Unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased Devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain and this is how how he 3:01 concluded that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the People by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth government of the People by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth Mr President I fear very much that under President Trump we are not seeing a government of the People by the people for the people but rather a government of the billionaire class by the billionaire class and for the billionaire class and what is really interesting is that none of this is happening behind closed doors it's not being done in secret it's right out 4:02 there for everybody to see several weeks ago Donald Trump was inaugurated for a second term as president standing right behind them were the three richest men in America Elon Musk Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg combined these three men are worth 920 billion these three men own more wealth than the bottom half of American society 170 million people three guys 170 million people and I should point out and this should tell you exactly where we are going as a nation these three men wealthiest three in America have become some 5:01 $232 billion richer since Trump was elected a few weeks ago three guys $232 billion richer since Trump was elected Mr President this is how an oligarchic system works Elon Musk the wealthiest person in the world and now a key part of the Trump Administration spent over 2 77 million to get Trump elected in other words within a corrupt campaign Finance system which allows billionaires to spend as much as they want he helped by the election for Mr Trump Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg the second and third wealthiest people in our country both kicked a million dollar each into Trump's inauguration fund 6:00 and let us remember that Mr Bezos who among other things owns the Washington Post rescinded the endorsement of that paper for kamla Harris just before the election Mr Bezos was showing early on that he was willing to bend the knee for Donald Trump Mark Zuckerberg the founder and CEO of meta which owns Facebook and Instagram agreed to settle a lawsuit with Trump for 25 million these three multi-billionaires are working with Trump for one very simple reason they understand that Trump's policies are designed to make the very wealthiest people in this country even richer since Trump's election miss the musk has become $154 billion do richer not that in a 7:00 couple of weeks time he earned a great investment he only spent a couple of hundred million on the election and now he's $154 billion richer Mr Bezos has become $35 billion richer and Mr Zuckerberg has become $43 billion richer Mr President I am concerned not only about the growing movement oligarchy in this country but I am deeply worried that under the leadership of President Trump we are moving rapidly towards authoritarianism and all over this country people are alarmed and shocked by what they have seen in the last several weeks just a few examples just a few last week president Trump attempted to suspend all federal grants and Loans 8:01 in direct violation of the US Constitution and federal law as every third grader in America knows or I hope knows the power of the purse in the United States belongs to congress not the president yes the president can recommend legislation to Congress the president can veto legislation that Congress has passed but he does not have the power to unilaterally terminate funding and legislation that has been passed by the US Congress that is a dangerous and blatantly unconstitutional act and I should add that Trump's blocking of federal funding would have had a horrific impact on millions of Americans who utilize programs like Medicaid Head Start Community Health 9:01 centers Meals on Wheels homeless veterans programs and many many other initiatives tens of millions of Americans including some of the most 9:10 vulnerable in our country were impacted 9:14 by that decision but that's not 9:17 all few days ago Trump fired 17 9:20 inspectors General independent 9:23 government Watchdogs that were created 9:26 by Congress in the wake of the Watergate 9:28 scandal to prevent the abuse of power by 9:31 the executive branch last week president 9:36 Trump fired a member of the National 9:38 Labor Relations Board and in so doing 9:41 effectively neutered the only Federal 9:45 agency in America with the authority to 9:47 hold corporations accountable for 9:50 illegal union busting and to protect the 9:53 constitutional right of millions of 9:56 workers who want to join unions in order 10:00 to earn better 10:03 wages working conditions and 10:06 benefits not only is that move blatantly 10:10 illegal it is exactly what Elon Musk the 10:14 owner of Tesla and Jeff Bezos the owner 10:17 of Amazon have been fighting for months 10:21 they don't like unions and what Mr Trump 10:25 has given them is the opportunity to 10:28 make it much much harder for workers to 10:30 organize in their 10:32 companies president Trump also illegally 10:35 fired members of the equal employment 10:37 opportunity commission the only 10:39 independent Commission in our country 10:41 that protects workers against 10:43 discrimination in the 10:45 workforce 10:46 further and what should upset upset 10:50 every American no matter whether you're 10:51 conservative moderate 10:54 Progressive is that in direct violation 10:57 of the Constitution and Federal law 11:00 Trump is intimidating the media with 11:03 lawsuits against ABC CBS meta and the de 11:08 Mo register his FCC is now threatening 11:13 to investigate PBS and 11:19 NPR what Trump is essentially saying to 11:22 every media Outlet in America if you say 11:26 or do anything that is critical of me 11:30 that displeases me you may be subject to 11:35 a lawsuit or a federal 11:39 investigation if that is not a direct 11:42 attack on the First Amendment on the US 11:46 Constitution and Free Speech in our 11:48 country I don't know what is but that is 11:53 not all Elon Musk and his unelected 11:56 minions at Doge have forced out 11:59 officials at the treasury Department and 12:01 illegally shut down 12:03 usid a program which among other things 12:07 helps feed and provide medical help to 12:09 starving and desperate children all over 12:13 the 12:14 world presidents much less unelected 12:17 billionaires do not have the unilateral 12:21 right to shut down federal agencies 12:24 established by 12:27 Congress and when we talk about the very 12:30 dangerous movement towards 12:33 authoritarianism that we are seeing in 12:35 this country now let us not forget 12:37 Trump's pardoning of the January 6th 12:41 insurrectionists who injured 12:44 174 police officers right here right 12:48 outside this 12:52 floor even worse not only did he pardon 12:56 those people but Trump is undermining 13:00 the 13:01 FBI by actually investigating the agents 13:04 there who help bring these violent 13:08 criminals to 13:10 Justice imagine that pardoning the 13:13 people who broke the law and 13:16 investigating the people who upheld the 13:19 law that is not what America is supposed 13:23 to be 13:24 about and Mr President under Trump we 13:27 are rapidly moving toward a 13:29 kleptocracy as 13:32 well just before the president was 13:35 inaugurated he and his wife launched 13:37 their own cryptocurrency 13:40 coins giving them the potential to earn 13:43 many billions of dollars if Wall Street 13:48 CEOs tried to bribe the president with a 13:51 bag full of money that would be illegal 13:54 that's against the law but now they 13:56 don't have to do that today if a multi- 13:59 millionaire the head of a foreign 14:00 country wants to Curry favor with the 14:03 president all they have to do is buy his 14:06 cryptocurrency coins and when they do 14:09 that they are 14:11 directly enriching Mr 14:16 Trump so Mr President the question that 14:20 millions of Americans are asking is 14:24 given the move toward oligarchy given 14:26 the move toward move toward 14:28 authoritarian ISM given the movement 14:31 toward 14:32 kleptocracy Where Do We Go From 14:34 Here what should we as Americans be 14:39 doing and let me tell you what I think 14:42 and what most Americans think and that 14:45 is instead of moving toward an economy 14:49 which is designed to benefit the very 14:51 richest people in our 14:54 country we have got to create an economy 14:58 and a government 14:59 that works for all of us not just for Mr 15:02 musk or Mr Bezos or Mr Zuckerberg Mr President at a time of massive wealth and income inequality we have never had more income and wealth inequality than we have had right now it is beyond stupidity to provide more tax breaks to the very richest people in our country and then to pay for those tax breaks by cutting back on Medicaid and other programs desperately needed by Working Families all across this country that is what we should not be doing but let me take a moment to tell you what we should be doing at a time when 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured in our broken Health Care System we have got a do what every other major country 16:01 on Earth does and that is guarantee Health Care to all people as a human right not a privilege that's what we've got to do at a time when one out of four Americans cannot afford the outrageously high prices that the pharmaceutical industry charges we've got to end the absurdity of the American people paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs we have got to cut the cost of medicine in this country in half making it comparable with what the rest of the world is paying Mr President the federal minimum wage today is $725 an hour that is a starvation wage well 60% of our people 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck we must raise that minimum wage to a living wage at 17:02 least $17 an hour if you work 40 hours a week in the richest country on Earth you should not be living in poverty Mr musk and Mr Bezos want to make it harder for workers to join unions well we have got to do exactly the opposite make it easier for workers to join unions by passing the proa at a time when we need the best ED educated Workforce in the world we need to have the best public schools in the world and among other things that means we need to substantially raise teachers salary we need to attract the best and the brightest young people into education and we do that among other things by making sure that no teacher in America earns less than $60,000 a year we also radically reform our broken child care system so the little kids in 18:00 this America in this country get the quality care they need and the workers there are adequately compensated Mr President all over this country from Vermont to La we have a major housing crisis and it's not just the 800,000 Americans who are homeless it millions of working families who are spending 40 50 or 60% of their limited incomes on housing instead of spending almost a trillion dollars a year on a wasteful and Bloated Pentagon budget we have got to build millions of units of low income and affordable housing and when we do that we put large numbers of American workers to work at good paying union jobs Mr President I have heard time and again from Mr Trump's supporters that the president won the election and he has been given this huge mandate just that overwhelming mandate to do whatever 19:00 he wants well no president has the right to move us to oligarchy authoritarianism or kleptocracy but more important let us not forget that while Trump did win this election he actually received 4 million votes fewer fewer votes than Biden did in 2020 when Biden won the election so here we are where do we we go what do we do I think now is the time for the American people to come together to not allow those who want to divide us up by the color of our skin or our sexual orientation or where we were born that's what they want to do they want to divide us up now is the time for us to come together like never before and make certain we do not move toward oligarchy make certain we do not 20:00 move toward authoritarianism or E kleptocracy and most importantly in the richest country in the history of the world we must understand that we have the capability of providing a decent life for all of our people we can do that when we stand together and we don't let folks divide us up and with that Mr President I will yal the floor

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