“We are no longer moving toward oligarchy, we are living in an oligarchy society.” Those words, uttered by senator Bernie Sanders in response to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress last night, perfectly encapsulate the dangerous position the U.S. is currently in.
In times like these, political figures like Sanders are a figure of hope, someone who clearly has the interests of the American people at heart, but also talks sense during a period when it feels like every single politician has lost their minds. In case you missed it, Trump addressed Congress last night and waffled on for almost an hour and 40 minutes, making it the longest State of the Union address (although it technically wasn’t a State of the Union) in the history of the U.S.
Donald Trump’s speech was lunacy
It should come as no surprise that Trump’s speech was filled with lies, as well as a ton of praise for his billionaire benefactors such as Elon Musk. During the 100 minute, self-indulgent, and frankly insufferable speech, the president boasted about the cuts to the federal workforce, doubled down on his foreign trade policies, and, made some outlandish promises regarding recent executive orders he’d signed.
Bernie Sanders’ response
Sanders had a lot to say about Trump’s speech. In a response video shared online, the 83-year-old drew attention to the “unprecedented challenges” facing the U.S. during this “pivotal moment.” He made mention of the numerous lies shared by Trump, not just the ones he brought up during the Congress speech (of which there were many), but also historical lies from the president’s mouth, such as Trump’s provably false claim that he actually won the 2020 election.
LIVE: President Trump’s Congressional Address needs a response. Here’s mine. https://t.co/O9yN04isIw
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 5, 2025
He accuses Trump of creating what he calls a “parallel universe,” which Sanders explains as “a set of ideas that either have no basis in reality, or in the great scheme of things are nowhere near the most important concerns of the American people.” One way that Trump does this is through something Sanders calls the “big lie,” where he’ll say something that is grossly false again and again until people actually believe it.
We’ve seen this countless times now. We’ve seen Trump utilize this method to convince his supporters that immigrants are eating dogs in Ohio or that there were no deaths resulting from the riots on January 6th. Fact checkers claimed that the president told over 30,000 untruths during his first term.
Donald Trump is ignoring the struggles of the working class
Sanders, like most sane people, understands that the policies Trump is focusing on won’t help the working class people. Instead, Sanders accuses the president of lining the pockets of his billionaire pals while almost completely ignoring “the issues that are keeping working people up at night.” The Republican party has been turned into a party of billionaire oligarchs by Trump, who simply doesn’t care for the ordinary people.
There is still hope
Despite all this, Sanders ends his response by emphasizing his belief that the oligarchs can be beaten. The history of the U.S. is filled with people standing up for their rights: the abolitionist movement, women’s rights movement, civil rights movement, gay rights movement, and the list goes on. As Sanders puts it, “if we bring our people together, around an agenda that works for the many and not just the few, there is nothing in the world that can stop us.”
Published: Mar 5, 2025 11:25 am