Sen. Bernie Sanders wasted no time launching into his response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, delivering a scathing rebuke of the administration’s policies and what he described as the country’s descent into oligarchy.
“The Trump administration is not hiding it,” Sanders declared in his streamed speech. “The Trump administration is a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class. Notwithstanding some of their rhetoric, this is a government that could care less about ordinary Americans and the working families of our country. My friends, we are no longer moving toward oligarchy. We are living in an oligarchic society.”
His remarks followed a triumphant speech by Trump, marking his first address to Congress since returning to the Oval Office in January. With characteristic confidence, the president celebrated his administration’s rapid action, including a slew of executive orders, strict border enforcement, and his aggressive tariff plan.
“To my fellow citizens, America is back,” Trump declared at the outset of his speech, drawing thunderous applause from Republican lawmakers.
“Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America,” he continued. “From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years. And we are just getting started.”
Sanders, however, dismissed the president’s speech as riddled with “lies,” citing several claims Trump made. He specifically pushed back against Trump’s repeated warnings of voter fraud, his stance on climate change, and his framing of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
“Trump has claimed that millions of undocumented people voted and do vote in American elections — a lie,” Sanders said. “Trump has claimed that climate change is a hoax originating in China — a lie. Trump has claimed that Ukraine started the horrific war with Russia — a lie. And tonight, just tonight, Trump claimed that millions of dead people between the ages of 100 and 360 were collecting Social Security checks. And that is an outrageous lie intended to lay the groundwork for cuts to Social Security and dismantling the most successful and popular government program in history.”
But perhaps Sanders’ most pointed attack was aimed at the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, an agency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, which has been tasked with eliminating waste, fraud, and mismanagement in federal agencies. The senator painted a grim picture of mass layoffs within the federal government, calling it a preview of a corporate-driven future in which workers are disposable.
“For the past several weeks, he and his good friend Elon Musk, who was up there in the audience tonight, have been throwing hundreds of thousands of federal employees off their jobs,” Sanders said.
And in a warning to everyday workers, he asked, “If Musk and his friends can arbitrarily throw federal workers out on the street today, what do you think that Musk and his fellow billionaires will be doing tomorrow, when artificial intelligence and robotics explode in this country? Do you think they’ll give a damn about you and your families? No, they will treat you exactly the way they’re treating federal employees today.”
