Bernie Sanders: I ‘Absolutely’ Stand Behind Behind My Claim That Democratic Party Abandoned the Working Class

BASH: “On Wednesday, her opponent will meet with President Biden in the Oval Office. While the Democratic Party grapples with their repudiation at the ballot box, independent Senator Bernie Sanders issued a particularly blistering statement this week, accusing Democrats of abandoning the working class. And Senator Bernie Sanders is here with me now. Hello, Senator. Congratulations on your reelection. Nice to have you here. I want to start with the scathing response that you gave after the Democrats lost, Kamala Harris lost, pretty big. You said the Democrats abandoned the working class. The chairman of the DNC called it straight-up B.S. and said, ‘Joe Biden is the most pro-worker president of my lifetime.’ Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she disagreed with you. She added, ‘Bernie Sanders has not won.’ Do you stand by what you said?”
Sanders: “Oh, absolutely. Look, Joe Biden is a friend of mine. I have been proud to work with him on an agenda which has been very strongly in favor of the working class. Biden promised to be the most progressive president since FDR. In many ways, on domestic issues, I think he kept his word. But here is the reality. The working class of this country is angry, and they have a reason to be angry. We are living in an economy today, Dana, where the people on top are doing phenomenally well, while 60 percent of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, 25 percent of elderly people are trying to get by on $15,000 a year or less. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth, and parents all over this country worry that their kids may have a lower standard of living than they do. That is the economic reality. And 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. 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 got to get rid of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, so billionaires do not continue to buy elections.”