Meet The Press’s Kristen Welker asked Sen. Bernie Sanders about Biden pardoning his son, and Sanders responded by taking Welker to school.
Transcript via Meet The Press:
KRISTEN WELKER:
Senator, was it the right decision for the country to pardon Hunter Biden?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:
Well, I think two things. When you have his opponents going after his family, as a father, as a parent, I think we can all understand Biden trying to protect his son and his family. On the other hand, I think the precedent being set is kind of a dangerous one. It’s a very wide-open pardon which could under different circumstances lead to problems in terms of future presidents.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Do you think he could his legacy with this pardon, Senator?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS:
Well, I think his legacy is a strong legacy. I think President Biden on domestic policies has been perhaps the most progressive president in American history since FDR. And I think the economy today in many ways is in very strong shape. But I do believe as President Trump comes into office, we have got to understand, Kristen â and this is something I feel very strongly about. And it’s not talked about enough. We are moving rapidly into an oligarchic form of society. Never before in American history have so few billionaires, so few people, had so much wealth and so much power. Never before has there been so much concentration of ownership, sector after sector, power of Wall Street. And never before in American history â and we better talk about this â have the people on top had so much political power. We can’t go around the world saying, “Oh, well, you know, in Russia, Putin has an oligarchy.” Well, we got our oligarchy here, too. And in this last election, in both parties, billionaires spent huge amounts of money to elect their candidates. Now here in the state of Vermont, we believe, we have town meetings, one person, one vote. That’s democracy, not billionaires buying elections. Those are the issues we got to focus on. We got to rebuild the middle class. Sixty percent of our people living paycheck to paycheck. We’re the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people. Many seniors are struggling, high rates of childhood poverty. So, I look forward to working with President Trump when he has ideas that are going to help the working class. We will vigorously oppose him if he wants to attack democracy or women’s rights to control their own bodies.
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Sen. Sanders (I-VT) was on the money. Joe Biden could easily go down in history as the most progressive American president since FDR. Biden’s presidency will studied for decades to come for its transformative effectiveness. Trump’s presidency will also be studied for its corruption and criminality and likely for the damage it will have done to American democracy.
Welker’s question was beyond myopic. Trump has filled his cabinet with billionaires and is on track for the greatest oligarchic upward redistribution of power and wealth in this country in history.
The pardon of Hunter Biden is irrelevant when billionaires just bought the presidency and are now poised to take over the Executive Branch of the federal government.
Billionaires buying elections may be the most pressing threat to the nation at this time, and Bernie Sanders was right to take Kristen Welker to school.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
