Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said during an interview over the weekend that the Democrats have been “playing dead for too many years” and that they needed to resist President Donald Trump by standing up for the working class.
Sanders made the remarks during a Sunday interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” with Kristen Welker when asked about something Democrat strategist James Carville recently said.
“You’ve been criss-crossing the country warning of what you say is an oligarchy in the United States,” Welker said. “We’re seeing some video of that right here. Some Democrats argue the best action right now for the party to counter Donald Trump is to do nothing at all.”
“Democratic strategist James Carville wrote this, quote, ‘Roll over and play dead. Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight and make the American people miss us,'” she continued. “Senator, what say you? Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Sanders responded: “Oh, no. I don’t. In fact, the problem is the Democrats have been playing dead for too many years. 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck. We have more income and wealth inequality than we’ve ever had in the history of this country. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country. Millions of seniors are struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table.”
“I don’t think you play dead,” he said. “I think you stand up for the working class in this country and make the point that right now, the Trump administration is clearly an administration designed to represent the interest of the Musks of the world. Thirteen of the people that he nominated to head agencies are billionaires. You know, Kristen, when Abraham Lincoln was in Gettysburg, looking out on the field where so many had died to defend freedom, he talked about a vision of America where we have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
“What we have right now in Washington, let me be very clear, is a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class,” he continued. “And these guys want to get – their greed – their greed is uncontrollable: more tax breaks for billionaires, cuts to programs for the elderly, the children, and the poor. We’ve got to fight back. That’s what these trips to Wisconsin and Michigan will be about.”
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