'We Are Now Living In An Oligarchic Society': Bernie Sanders Says Trump Has Created U.S. Oligarchy

At a May Day rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) accused President Trump of ushering in an age of oligarchy.

Transcript

00:00so let us be clear and lay it out on the table in the year 2025 in America we are

00:11now living in an oligarchic form of society never before in our history have

00:24so few had so much wealth while so many Americans are struggling never before

00:35have so few had so much political power while millions of Americans no longer

00:47vote millions of others have given up on democracy because they look

00:54at government and they say government is owned by billionaires you are not

01:00representing us you know a few years ago when I talked about oligarchy people were

01:10saying oh what is Bernie talking about well Donald Trump has made it very clear

01:15what we are talking about when we talk about oligarchy

01:24oligarchy is a president who when he gets inaugurated he doesn't hide it hide it

01:31right behind him are the three wealthiest people in america musk bezos and

01:39zuckerberg

01:41and right behind them are 13 other billionaires who he has appointed to head

01:54major government agencies I think all of us remember all of us remember that when

02:08Abraham Lincoln was in Gettysburg right here in Pennsylvania and he looked out at a

02:14battlefield where a few days before 20,000 Union soldiers had died or been

02:23wounded and he looked out and he said our vision for the future of america is a

02:31government of the people by the people and for the people

02:38well what everyone knows is that today we have a government of the

02:54billionaire class by the billionaire class and for the billionaire class and we will

03:02not allow that to continue and let me be very clear these oligarchs these

03:12billionaires are not nice people they are incredibly greedy people you might think you

03:25might think that somebody who has 10 or 20 billion dollars might be content might

03:32think that's enough not these guys they want it all and they are prepared to destroy social security

03:47medicare medicare medicaid nutrition programs in order to get more tax breaks for themselves

04:00so today brothers and sisters we tell these greedy oligarchs this country belongs to all of us

04:10us not the billionaire class