Michigan is still “feeling the Bern.”
On Saturday, some 10,000 people came to Lincoln High School in Warren to listen to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders — a figure that seemed to surprise even his own team.
The Vermont independent and former presidential candidate is traveling the country on his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour, aimed at mobilizing opposition to President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of the government and urging voters to put pressure on lawmakers (like Republican U.S. Representative John James) to reject tax breaks for the rich and cuts to social welfare programs.
Sanders, 83, seemed to relish the opportunity to connect, addressing the overflow rooms separately and asking the crowd to raise their hands and tell him how it feels to live paycheck to paycheck. (“Stress!” “Survival!” “Exhaustion!” “Fear! Fear of what? A fear of everything!”) At one point, he even got on a megaphone to address supporters outside.
The event also aimed to pierce the malaise many liberals have felt since the November election (local hardcore collective The Armed kicked things off with a wild cover of the Stooges). “At this moment in history, this very difficult moment, despair is not an option,” Sanders told the crowd.
Minutes before he took the stage Sen. Sanders sat with Metro Times for a brief interview, lightly edited here for length and clarity.
Metro Times: As I understand it, you’re not running for anything. You’ve said this is your last term in the Senate—
Bernie Sanders: No, I didn’t say that.
MT: OK, well, why are you on the road right now? Why are you doing this?
Sanders: I’m on the road because I think it’s terribly important that we do everything possible to defeat the Trump initiative — which will make massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition, and education in order to give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the richest people in this country. I think at a time when the billionaire class is doing phenomenally well, the last thing that we need to do is give them a tax break while we cut programs for working families. There are a number of districts around the country where Republicans are in Congress who won by a relatively small vote, slim margins. And I think it’s important for their constituents to make it clear that they don’t support tax breaks for billionaires and cuts to programs for working families.
In addition, I’ll be talking about the attacks that we’re seeing on veterans programs. The [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] announced that they intend to lay off some 83,000 employees, which will be a disaster for veterans in this country. I think the plan is to lay off half of Social Security Administration employees, which will be a disaster for senior citizens in this country. So I think it’s important that we make it clear that the American people want a government that works for everybody, and not just the people on top.
MT: I work at an alternative weekly, and in our archives I found an interview with you from the ’90s. It surprised me because you were talking about all the same stuff you are talking about now.
Sanders: I have been talking about our nation moving toward an oligarchic form of society for a very long time, and now I think most people recognize that it is the reality of the richest guy in the world, you know, running the government, essentially. You have at Trump’s inauguration the three wealthiest people in the country standing right behind him, and behind them were 13 billionaires running government agencies. So essentially, now you have a government of the billionaire class, by the billionaire class, and for the billionaire class. If that’s not an oligarchy, I’m not quite sure what is.
MT: Do you feel — I don’t know if vindicated is the right word…
Sanders: Well, it’s not a question of being vindicated. It’s not a happy vindication. I would have preferred to be proven wrong. But it is what it is, and it’s a situation that is not acceptable, I think, to the American people. We have, just on this trip, we were in Kenosha and then Altoona, Wisconsin, just unbelievable turnouts. In Altoona, they got 9,000 people there. We had 2,600 people at a rally, and we had 4,000 or something in Kenosha, and this is going to be a very, very big rally, I think — 5,000 or 6,000 people. [Editor’s note: Later, on stage, an aide pulled Sanders aside to say the crowd was estimated to be at least 9,000.] I think the people are fed up. They don’t want to see us become an oligarchy. They are worried about Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism. They’re worried about cuts to working-class programs, tax breaks for billionaires. So those are the issues that we have to focus on. That’s why I’m here.
MT: Last question — I don’t know if you know our mayor in Detroit, Mayor Mike Duggan is running for governor as an independent. You’ve long identified as an independent. What are some of the advantages you think that’s given you, and what are some of the consequences?
Sanders: There is, I think, increasing distaste for both political parties and more and more people, as I understand, are becoming independents. And I think the reason for that has a lot to do with the corrupt campaign finance system that we have, which allows billionaires, essentially, to buy elections. And I think people are disgusted with that. And you know, running as an independent, it suggests you’re not part of either party. There are obviously clear disadvantages from a political point of view. You often don’t have the Democratic machine beyond you, or the Republican machine. But I am the longest-serving independent in United States history, and I’m proud of that.
