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SANDERS SLAMS ‘BIG MONEY INTERESTS’ AND CONSULTANTS THAT CONTROL
DEMOCRATIC PARTY AFTER LOSS TO TRUMP  
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Jessica Corbett
November 6, 2024
Common Dreams [[link removed]]

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_ "While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the
American people are angry and want change," said the Vermont
Independent. "And they're right." _

, Greg Nash/The Hill

 

Shortly before Vice President Kamala Harris
[[link removed]] delivered her
concession speech
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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders
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out Democratic Party leadership for losing the White House
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least one chamber
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Congress to Republicans.

"It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has
abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has
abandoned them," Sanders (I-Vt.) said
[[link removed]] in a
statement. "First, it was the white working class, and now it is
Latino and Black workers as well."

"While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American
people are angry and want change," said the senator, who decisively
[[link removed]] won
reelection on Tuesday as Republicans reclaimed the upper chamber. "And
they're right."

After seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020,
Sanders spent this cycle campaigning
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Harris, warning
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President-elect Donald Trump's return, blasting
[[link removed]] billionaire
involvement in U.S. politics, and urging
[[link removed]] Democrats
to better serve working people.

"Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control
the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous
campaign? ...Probably not."

In Sanders' new statement, he highlighted U.S. income and wealth
inequality, worker concerns about artificial intelligence, and the
federal government's failure to provide paid leave and universal
healthcare while pouring billions of dollars into Israel's war on
the Gaza [[link removed]] Strip.

"Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control
the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous
campaign? Will they understand the pain and political alienation that
tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas
as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful oligarchy which has
so much economic and political power?" he asked. "Probably not."

"In the coming weeks and months those of us concerned about grassroots
democracy and economic justice need to have some very serious
political discussions," Sanders concluded. "Stay tuned."

Progressives—who have responded to Trump's Electoral College and
popular vote win by criticizing
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who backed him and promising
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resistance" during his second term—echoed Sanders' remarks.

Sharing Sanders' statement on X—the social media platform owned by
billionaire Trump backer
[[link removed]] Elon
Musk—United Auto Workers (UAW) communications director Jonah
Furman said [[link removed]]:
"The task has been clear for a decade. The question is only whether
and when we will rise to the task."

Separately, the union's president, Shawn Fain, said
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a Wednesday statement that "UAW members around the country clocked in
today under the same threat they faced yesterday: unchecked corporate
greed destroying our lives, our families, and our communities."

"We've said all along that no matter who is in the White House, our
fight remains the same," Fain continued, pointing to the battle
against "broken trade laws" like the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement and fights for good union jobs, a secure retirement for
everyone, a living wage, affordable healthcare, and time for families.

"It's time for Washington, D.C. to put up or shut up, no matter the
party, no matter the candidate," added Fain, whose union endorsed
Harris. "Will our government stand with the working class, or keep
doing the bidding of the billionaires? That's the question we face
today. And that's the question we'll face tomorrow. The answer lies
with us. No matter who's in office."

"Will our government stand with the working class, or keep doing the
bidding of the billionaires?"

In a post-election column, Chuck Idelson, former communications senior
strategist for National Nurses United, made the case
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"amid the postmortems and reckoning that will now follow the wreckage
of Donald Trump's return to 'absolute' power, as authorized by the
Supreme Court, there are... two notes in particular that deserve a
deeper dive."

"In Missouri, a state Trump won by 58%, voters also acted to increase
the state's minimum wage
[[link removed]] to
$15 an hour and to require employers to provide paid sick leave to
workers," he pointed out. "In Nebraska, another red state won by
Trump, voters also passed a paid sick leave measure
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Initiative 436, by 75%."

In addition to the ballot measures, Idelson highlighted that "in the
multitude of exit poll results, one particularly stands out—94% of
registered Republicans voted for Trump
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the exact same percentage he received in 2020.
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heavy campaign focus on pulling away Republican voters from Trump
turned out to be a pipe dream. The old cliché 'it's the economy
stupid,' triumphed again."

Harris' campaign, he argued, "reflected the direction the Democratic
Party establishment has taken, away from working-class issues since
the advent of neoliberal policies in the 1970s and carried out by most
Democratic Party presidents since."

Historian Harvey J. Kaye, professor emeritus at the University of
Wisconsin-Green Bay, took aim at the Democratic Party on social media
Wednesday, noting failures to stand up to billionaires, raise the
minimum wage, and pass the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to
Organize (PRO) Act.

Morris Pearl, chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former
managing director at BlackRock, said in a Wednesday statement that "a
self-avowed authoritarian successfully wielded the economic
frustrations of millions to win the most consequential election of our
nation's history. The Democratic establishment has only itself to
blame."

"Voters demanded a fundamental overhaul of a rigged economic system.
When neoliberal Democrats dithered, Donald Trump
[[link removed]] offered to clear the
board, and voters chose the dark unknown rather than the status quo,"
Pearl added. "The only question remaining is, why are Democrats
surprised? This is the entirely predictable result of a multidecade
strategy to appease the rich that met no serious resistance."

The Sunrise Movement—a youth-led climate group that worked
[[link removed]] to reach
millions of young voters in swing states to defeat
Trump—similarly stressed
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media Wednesday that "last night's results were a call for change.
Millions of people are fed up after living through decades of a rigged
economy and corrupt political system. They are looking for someone to
blame. It's critical the Dem Party takes that seriously."

"For decades, Democrats have prioritized corporations over people.
This is the result. Every working American feels the crisis. We can't
pay rent. Our government can't pass basic legislation. The WEATHER has
turned against us. And Dems look us in the eye and say it's fine," the
group continued. "Trump loves corporations even more than Democrats
do, but he ran an anti-establishment campaign that gave an answer to
people's desire for change."

"We can stop him, and we must," Sunrise said of Trump. "But it's going
to take many thousands of people taking to the streets and preparing
to strike. And it's going to take mass movements putting out a better
vision for our country than Trumpism and proving that we can make it
happen."

_Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common
Dreams._

* Democratic Party
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