“He Is The Most Reckless President In History”: Bernie Sanders BLASTS Trump Over Corrupt Policies

In my view, Donald Trump is the most reckless and irresponsible president in the history of America. He does not believe in the Constitution or the rule of law. He is a pathological liar. He is a narcissist who would name every building in America if he could after him. And let me thank Ted Leo. Ted has been with us in Bangor, in Lewiston, in Biddeford. Let me thank Griffin William Cherry for the music as well, Joe Grassi, Kelly Brennan, Congresswoman Shelley Pendry, and last but not least, my very good friend, Troy Jackson. Everybody here knows Troy started his campaign running for governor, and he ended up running for the Senate, and that is a hell of a transition. Washington is not Augusta. But I think he has done a remarkable job in making that transition in running a great campaign. I know everybody thought that he was going to debate Susan Collins five terms of the United States Senate. She would wipe them out. Didn't quite happen that way. Thank you, Troy. What I want to do this evening, and I'll try to keep my remarks under six hours. We'll get you home by two in the morning. Don't worry about it. I want to do a few things. Number one, I want to talk a little bit about the U.S. Senate. I work there. I know. And I think a lot of people don't understand how, in fact, the Senate works and why this election is so enormously important. Then I want to talk a little bit about what is going on in our country and why people are so very angry, and they are, from coast to coast. And then I want to talk a little bit about where I believe we should be going as a nation. Now, what about the United States Senate? I think there are some people who have the conception that, you know, you've got two people, two senators from each state, a hundred people come together, they sit around the room and somebody says, man, I got a great idea. Oh, Joe, what's your idea? Oh, wow, let's discuss it. Let's debate it. And then we're going to vote. And if it's a good idea, it's going to win. That is not how the U.S. Senate works. All right? The U.S. Senate works, whether it is under Democratic leadership or Republican leadership, with the majority party holding virtually all of the power. Now, whether that's good or bad, we can discuss. I don't think it's so great. But that is the reality. You want to get a bill to the floor, the majority leader makes that decision whether it gets to the floor or not. The chairperson of every single committee is from the majority party. So in other words, what happens is determined not by 100 people, but by the majority party. And right now, in Washington, there are 53 Republicans who constitute the majority. There are 45 Democrats, and there are two independents, Angus King and me. And for better or worse, the people of Vermont have sent me to Washington as the longest-serving independent in the history of the country. Now, why did I make that point? I'll tell you a little bit about how the Senate actually functions. And the reason is that understanding how the Senate functions is especially important in this dangerous moment in American history. In my view, Donald Trump is the most reckless and irresponsible president in the history of America. He does not believe in the Constitution or the rule of law. He is a pathological liar. He is a narcissist who would name every building in America if he could after him. And he is running the most corrupt administration in modern history. His policies, above and beyond his own personality, his policies have worked wonders for the very richest people in this country. They are doing unbelievably well since Trump has been elected. and his policies have brought enormous suffering to many millions of working families in Vermont, Maine, and throughout our country. And here is the point. If you believe that Donald Trump and his policies are a danger to the United States and the working families of our country, then we cannot and must not allow the United States Senate to remain under Republican control and continue as a rubber stamp for Trump's policies. So what do I mean by that? I know that in Maine, there are many people who like Susan Collins. That's fine. And there are many people in Maine who may have a disagreement with Troy on this or that issue, and that's called democracy, and that's fine. But here is the point. If you want to hold Donald Trump and his disastrous policies accountable, the only way to do that is by electing a Democratic Senate, and this election here in Maine may well determine whether or not that happens. So, yes, there are very strong differences between Troy and Susan. I happen to think that Troy is right. She's wrong. But that is not, in all due respect to both Troy and Susan, that is not the most important issue. The most important issue is that on the day when the Senate reconvenes, there will be the most important vote. Well, sometimes you don't even have to vote. We know. And that is which party controls the Senate. And on that issue, Susan Collins will be with the Republicans. There will not be accountability for the disastrous policies of Donald Trump, end of discussion. Let me give you some concrete examples of what I mean. Donald Trump and his friends threw some 15 million Americans off the health care they have. Raise premiums on millions of others who are in the Affordable Care Act in order to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the 1%. The only way we reverse that disastrous policy and make sure that people do not lose their health care is by ending Republican control over the Senate. Only way. All over this country, in Maine, in Vermont, all over America, people are sick and tired of Trump's illegal and unconstitutional war with Iran. That war has resulted in the deaths of 19 U.S. service members, thousands of innocent civilians, raised prices in the United States for gas and for basic necessities. the only way you want to end that war well if you are in Maine and you want to end that war and you vote Republican you're going to continue that war the only way you end that war is by ending Republican control over the senate trump believes that climate change is a hoax well if you want to try to save the planet for your kids and your grandchildren and future generations The only way you're going to do that is by ending Republican control of the Senate. For the first time in American history, we now have a domestic army, and it's called ICE. In my view and in the view of most Americans, ICE is out of control. ICE has killed innocent Americans. We've thrown people into detention centers under horrendous conditions, and ICE has terrorized communities all over the country. Now, if you want to bring ICE under control, if you want to move to comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship for the undocumented, the only way you do that is getting rid of the rubber-stamp Republican U.S. Senate. I'm going to go into this issue a little bit deeper in a moment, but if you are concerned about the proliferation of data centers all over America, if you are concerned that AI might escape human control with potentially cataclysmic results, The only way we are going to get safeguards on AI is by ending the Republican rubber stamp U.S. Senate. In other words, what has happened over the years, and it was not always the case, but what has happened in the last number of years is the Republican Party has become a cult of the individual. Trump says jump, and they say how high. The American people do not want an uncontrolled Donald Trump to continue to break the law and do whatever he wants. That is the bottom line of this campaign. And here in Maine and all over this country, we've got to stand up to Trump and we got to make sure that we end this rubber stamp U.S. Senate Republican control. But now let me tell you something that a lot of folks up here will not tell you. A lot of, you know, people in the Senate. And that is, in my view, as much as we've got to take on Trump every single day, we have got to be more than anti-Trump. We've got to be pro-working class. And here is the reason why. We are living in an unprecedented moment in American history for so many reasons, and it goes beyond Trump. Never before in the history of our country have so few people owned so much wealth and had so much power. Now, you're not going to see that on TV very often, and you're not going to hear it discussed in the halls of Congress. But right now, what you have is a handful of oligarchs who have unbelievable wealth. I mean, And I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars. These are people who control our economy. They are pushing AI despite the concerns of the American people. They're in the fossil fuel industry pushing more and more carbon out into the atmosphere despite what it will mean for the well-being of our planet. These people have unbelievable wealth and power. they own the media, which determines what we see, hear, and read. When we were in school, you all remember reading about the Gilded Age, Rockefeller, Morgan, J.P. Morgan, Carnegie, those guys? Situation today is much more extreme and unfair than during the Gilded Age. You are living in a country now where the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 93%. You are living at a moment when never before in our history have we seen such an unprecedented level of greed. These guys are uncontrollable. They want more and more and more. You might think that if you were worth a few hundred billion dollars that you don't have to take away health care from children or try to cut programs that low-income people desperately need. You might think enough is enough. I mean, how many mansions, how many private jets, how many islands, how much do you need? In America today, Elon Musk, the richest guy on earth, hear this. One man now owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households. CEOs of large profitable corporations are making 350 times more than their average worker. 350 times. And over the past year, after receiving the largest tax break in history. Fewer than 1,000 billionaires in America became over $2.2 trillion richer. People can't afford health care. People can't afford groceries. People are sleeping out on the streets. And fewer than 1,000 people became over $2 trillion richer. And I'll tell you why the American people are angry. They get up in the morning and they're working hard trying to take care of their families, trying to put groceries on the table, feed their kids healthy food, put away a few bucks for retirement, trying to afford health care, saving away some money for the kids' education, and they see the people on top getting richer and richer while they struggle. And this is not a new phenomenon. I want you all to hear this, because it's not talked about very often. But it speaks, I think, to why the American people are angry. Despite massive increases in worker productivity and an explosion in technology, the average American worker is making $25 a week less than he or she did 53 years ago after adjusting for inflation. Here's another thing. Young people may not know this, so I'll tell the young people. There was once a time, trust me, check it out. You don't believe me? Check it out. Google it. Where it was, I grew up in a family, it was a working class family. My family never had any money. We lived in a rent-controlled apartment. But despite the fact that we never had any money, we had one person in my family, my dad, who worked all of the time, one person made enough money to pay the bills. So young people, there was once a time in American history where one person could work 40 or 50 hours a week and make enough money to keep the family going. How many working class families do you know today where both mom and dad are not working? Not many. So what the hell is happening? You're supposedly living in an economy stronger and stronger, more and more technology, more and more efficiency. And what we are seeing is almost all of the increase in that wealth has gone to the 1%. In fact, believe it or not, over the last 50 years, over $70 trillion has been transferred from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. So what this campaign is about, it's not only who controls the United States Senate, as important as that is, It is whether or not we are going to have a country run by a handful of billionaires or whether, in fact, we have a democratic society where the voices and needs of the people are heard and dealt with. That is what this campaign is about. Now, the oligarchs control the economy, increasingly control the media, more concentration of ownership in America than we have ever seen. but they're doing something else which is extremely dangerous and nefarious. They now want to own the political process as well. Elon Musk himself spent $290 million to elect Donald Trump as president. And now Musk is spending $200 million in this election, Money coming into Maine from Mr. Musk and other billionaires against Troy. Well, you don't need to know much more than if Elon Musk wants to defeat Troy Jackson, we've got to elect Troy Jackson. So what must we do when Democrats gain control over the House and the Senate? I'll tell you what we do. Number one, we understand here and throughout this country that health care is a human right. Do you all know that we are spending twice as much per capita on health care as the people of any other nation? And yet we got 85 million uninsured or underinsured. Tens of thousands of people die every single year because they can't get to a doctor on time. That is insane. That is cruel. That is unacceptable. Troy believes and I believe we've got to guarantee health care to every man, woman and child through a Medicare for all single payer program at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, yes the billionaires are going to start paying their fair share of taxes yes we're going to protect the planet for our kids and future generations, we're going to take on the fossil fuel industry create millions of jobs going to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. When tens of millions of workers are earning starvation wages, we're going to raise the minimum wage to at least 20 bucks an hour. And when workers all over this country want to join a union but are illegally denied that opportunity by their bosses, we're going to pass legislation to make it easy and appropriate for workers to join unions. And I'll tell you something else that we're going to do. We're going to end endless wars. No need to be spending over a trillion dollars a year on the military fighting wars which are unconstitutional, which are illegal. We're going to end that war. And we are going to do what the overwhelming majority of the American people not provide another nickel for the genocidal government of Netanyahu in Israel. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, we got a lot on the table and we are fighting not just for ourselves, but for our kids, for our grandchildren and for the future and well-being of this entire planet. Enormous responsibility. And I say this not to get you overly nervous, but there are seven or eight races around the country that are what we call within the margin of error. Right here in Maine, it's one. Some polls have Troy up by two. Others have Collins up by three, whatever it may be. It's going to be a close election. Every vote counts. And I don't want anybody in this room on election night at 2 o'clock in the morning to see that Troy has lost the state of Maine and Republicans continue to control the Senate because if we didn't do the work, we should have done. So I'm asking you all, I'm asking all of you to do everything that you can Drag out your aunts and your uncles and your kids and everybody else to the polls. The future of America, future life of our kids could well depend on what happens right here in the great state of Maine. So please do all that you can and let us elect Troy Jackson as the next United States Senator for Maine. Thank you all very much.