Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders—fresh from flying by private jet to Coachella with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour—appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday to promote his familiar socialist policies and criticize capitalism, despite now being a millionaire with three homes. But he did manage to get at least one thing correct: The Democratic Party is adrift and out-of-touch with blue-collar America.
He began his appearance reciting his usual list of complaints, filled with false accusations and dripping with hypocrisy: “You have Democrats appropriately, and I’m working with them, talking about Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism, vigorously opposing the so-called reconciliation bill to give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks for the 1 percent and make massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition and housing, opposing what Musk is doing to dismember the Social Security Administration and the Veterans Administration, making it hard for our veterans to get decent health care or benefits on time,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker.
But then, the report said, he hit the nail on the head. “We’re on the same page, but what Democrats lack right now is a vision for the future,” following up his statement with questions about fixing “a broken health care system” and increasing the minimum wage, the latter of which would drive up the cost of labor, then the cost of the products those laborers make — all while complaining that President Trump’s tariffs are “raising costs” (we told you he’s a hypocrite).
Sanders also reached the same conclusion most American voters did in November: that the Democrats have abandoned the working class, per The Hill:
“Those are some of the issues that need to be discussed,” Sanders said. In the wake of November’s elections, Sanders accused the Democratic Party of significantly ignoring working class priorities, pointing to it as the largest reason behind Democrats’ loss of the White House and Senate.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders said in a statement at the time. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right,” he said.
Bernie, you nailed one point: Democrats have indeed abandoned everyday Americans in favor of “woke” agendas—DEI initiatives, men competing in women’s sports, a war on energy, and more. That said, your policy prescriptions would only push us further toward a socialist nightmare. We don’t believe you and AOC are the ones to fix this—if it’s even fixable—but Democrats have become so unmoored and rudderless that they’re nearly irrelevant. Here’s the reality: even someone who is chronically on the wrong side of issues can occasionally get something right.. Bernie may be wrong on almost everything else, but this is spot-on: Democrats have no vision for everyday Americans.