Bernie Sanders says Democrats have ‘paid a political price’ for not listening to the working class

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, has been touring the country with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to push back against the Trump administration.

In an interview with Here & Now’s Robin Young, he said Democrats need to put up candidates who can channel the anger of voters who are worried about recent moves by President Trump.

“I think support for this right-wing agenda, which is not only about authoritarianism and oligarchy, it is about a proposal which will give over, if passed, over $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top 1% and allow for massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition, housing and other programs,” Sanders said. “If you poll that, I would guess that 80-90% of the American people think that that is totally insane. So I think in fact in many ways the Trump administration is now on the defensive with their tariff policies, which are going to raise prices. Now what we need are candidates and a political movement which stands clearly with the working class of this country.”

The following excerpt has been edited for length and clarity. 

On concerns from Democrats that the party has moved too far to the left and needs to listen more

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Well, of course the party needs to listen more. There’s a lot to be proud of. They have led the way in the right for women to control their own body, something which is under attack right now, led the way for gay rights, led the way to fight against bigotry in general civil rights, but I’ll tell you what Democrats should not be proud of: And that is in the richest country in the history of the world, 60% of the American people living paycheck to paycheck.

In America today, one guy, Elon Musk, owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households. We’re the only major country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people despite spending twice as much as most countries. Sixty thousand people a year die because they don’t get to a doctor on time. In other words, what the Democratic Party has not done is paid attention to the working class, and they paid a political price for that.

More interview highlights

For more highlights from Sanders’ interview, including thoughts on why Republicans haven’t paid a political price for policies favoring the wealthy and how to get disaffected voters to listen to the Democratic Party and to listen, click through to Here & Now‘s site.

Michael Scotto produced this piece for digital along with Grace Griffin. Mark Navin edited the broadcast segment.