Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) discusses tomorrow's presidential debate.
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/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
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/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00There we go.
00:01All good.
00:02So, Senator, I just wanted to start with some news of the day.
00:09I know you weighed in on Jamal Bowman's primary result, but I was wondering what lessons you
00:17take from him.
00:18There's a profound lesson.
00:19Look, in a democracy, people have disagreements.
00:23Candidates have disagreements.
00:24That's called democracy.
00:25I love that.
00:26Argue the issues.
00:27But what I detest is the ability of billionaires to be able to put endless amounts of money
00:34into super PACs and buy elections.
00:37That is not what democracy is about.
00:38That's oligarchy.
00:40And what happened to Bowman is, if my memory is correct, about $23 million was spent against
00:46him.
00:47I think he spent $3 or $4 million, greatly outspent.
00:51And that's just not fair.
00:52And it's not what America should be about.
00:53And I'll tell you what the implications of that are.
00:56The implications are that in Congress, if members stand up for working class people,
01:00if we're prepared to take on the pharmaceutical industry and lower the cost of drugs, take
01:04on the insurance companies, lower the cost of health care in America, take on the fossil
01:09fuel industry, deal with climate change, all of these moneyed interests, they're going
01:12to come after you.
01:13And people are going to say, oh, my God, do I really want to stand up to the drug companies?
01:18They're going to come after me.
01:19And they have unlimited resources.
01:21So bottom line there is we've got to overturn this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court
01:26decision, which allows the creation of these super PACs, and in my view, move to public
01:30funding of elections.
01:31That's what democracy is about.
01:32You want to beat me?
01:33Fine.
01:34Let's do it.
01:35Let's have a debate on the issues, not come up with huge amounts of money to flood the
01:39airwaves.
01:40What lessons do you think, for a progressive like Cori Bush, for example, who are still
01:45facing primaries now?
01:47It's not a lesson.
01:48She knows it.
01:49And everybody does it.
01:50The progressive movement is trying to stand up for the working class of this country.
01:54And we've been taking on the billionaire class forever.
01:57You know what?
01:58They don't like us.
01:59They don't want to pay their fair share of taxes.
02:01They want to break unions rather than allow us, allow working people to form unions.
02:05They don't want us to raise the minimum wage.
02:07They don't want us to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel.
02:11So there's nothing new here.
02:12What is new is they now have unlimited amounts of money, which they're prepared to put into
02:16the political process to try to defeat us.
02:20Shifting down to Atlanta, President Biden about to debate President, or former President
02:25Trump.
02:26You know, what would you like to see from President Biden?
02:28Look, I think the way to win this campaign is to make it clear who is on the side of
02:33the working families in this country.
02:35Sixty percent of our people are living paycheck to paycheck while the billionaire class is
02:40making out like bandits.
02:41They have never, ever, ever had it so good.
02:44So what Biden has got to do is say, I stand with workers.
02:47And he has.
02:48President Biden was on for the first time in American history.
02:51He was a president walking a picket line with UAW workers.
02:54Trump, on the other hand, pointed absolutely reactionary members to his administration,
03:00anti-union, anti-worker members to his administration.
03:04So I think the choice is pretty clear.
03:06But Biden has got to make it clear we're going to take on the drug companies, we're going
03:09to lower the cost of prescription drugs, we're going to make health care affordable for every
03:13American.
03:14We're going to create many, many jobs by transforming our energy system away from fossil
03:18fuel so the planet is habitable for our kids and future generations.
03:22Make it clear which side you're on.
03:24And I think if he does that, he's going to win this election.
03:28You've debated Joe Biden before.
03:29What do you think his strengths are in that arena?
03:31I've debated him and many of the others a number of times.
03:35Look, you know, Biden is a very decent human being.
03:40I think he's a strong debater.
03:43But I think at the end of the day, what we have to appreciate is we're not voting to
03:48elect a talk show host.
03:50You know, Trump had a talk show, a show on television.
03:53Did very well at it.
03:55We are voting for somebody who is going to implement policies to impact our lives.
04:01Do you believe that a woman has a right to control her own body?
04:05Trump does not.
04:07Biden does.
04:08Do you think workers should be able to form unions and that we raise the minimum wage?
04:12Biden believes that.
04:13Trump does not.
04:15Do you think that climate change is real or is it a hoax coming from China?
04:19That is Trump's point of view.
04:21Biden is putting money into transforming our energy system.
04:23So, you know, this is not a we're not voting for some Emmy award here.
04:31We're voting for a set of policies which will impact all of us.
04:35You know, you have a lot of people outside who have supported you in past elections.
04:39In 2020, you know, you you urged them to make the choice to, you know, form this coalition,
04:45if you will, with President Biden.
04:48What would you say to those who are wary of taking that step again?
04:52Look, if you have disagreements with President Biden, join the club.
04:57So do I.
04:58But I think you cannot sit out this election.
05:01You certainly cannot vote for a third candidate or certainly not for for Trump.
05:07The choices are clear.
05:09And I think why we may disagree with Biden on this or that issue, I think, is far and
05:15away the preferable candidate.
05:16And we've got to do everything we can to bring our people together to elect him.
05:22Do you think President Biden has kind of upheld his role in holding together that coalition
05:27or is there more he could do?
05:28Well, I think that's a long story.
05:30You know, we have the time to get into it.
05:32I can tell you that in the midst of the terrible covid pandemic, when the economy collapsed,
05:39I worked with the president, I was then chairman of the Budget Committee to create the American
05:43Rescue Plan.
05:44That was a one point nine trillion dollar plan.
05:48And the president was more than supportive.
05:51And as a result of that plan, we came out of that terrible economic downturn a lot,
05:55lot faster than the economists thought we would.
05:58So, you know, in that sense, President Biden thought very, very big.
06:02It was an unprecedented piece of legislation, enormously consequential.
06:09So yeah, to answer your question, I think Biden has done a lot of good things.
06:12There are areas that I disagree.
06:14But once again, he is by far the preferential preferred preferred candidate to my mind.
06:19Thank you for your time.
06:20Thank you very much.
06:21OK, we've got a rally out there.