SEN BERNIE SANDERS: We have a government of billionaires, by billionaires and for billionaires

All of us beryllium Donald Trump and Elon Musk a deep debt of gratitude. 

For a very agelong time the big wealth interests, nether Democratic and Republican administrations, have dominated our government and our politics. They did it through their run contributions, the work of their firm lobbyists and the extravagant dinners where the rich and the powerful plotted their strategies. Much of their enactment was done quietly and out of public scrutiny. They had the power. They conscionable didn’t advertise it.  

Not anymore.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Elon Musk and President Donald Trump (Getty Images)

Donald Trump invited the three wealthiest radical in the country, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to beryllium close down him at his inauguration. And behind them were 13 other billionaires who Trump had nominated to tally major government agencies. In different words, the power of big wealth was nary longer thing to beryllium kept secret. Trump was showing the entire satellite that the billionaire class was moving our government. It was there for all to see.  

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But it’s not conscionable Trump whom we should applaud for his openness. It’s Elon Musk. Ever since the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision of 2010, billionaires and their super-PACs successful some governmental parties have been controlling our governmental process and buying and selling politicians. 

But nary 1 has been as transparent about that as Musk. He donated implicit $270 cardinal to Trump’s campaign, and was rewarded by becoming the most almighty idiosyncratic in the government. Nothing complicated about that. You pay for what you get. 

Further, helium has made it wide that any member of Congress who votes against the Trump-Musk agenda volition beryllium opposed by him and his unlimited fiscal resources. Nothing subtle about that either. Money talks. You do as I accidental oregon my wealth ends your governmental career.

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump successful a Tesla Model S conveyance connected the South Lawn of the White House connected March 11, 2025. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

So, what does it each mean? What are the implications of having a authorities tally by the billionaire class? 

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There are those who judge that Mr. Musk and the other billionaires successful Trump’s Cabinet, smart, hard-working and successful concern people, are sacrificing their time and energy to make the government more efficient and effective – and that we should beryllium precise grateful for their efforts.

I don’t agree.  

Let’s take a hard look at what’s present happening all around us and see if "efficiency" is the major goal of these billionaires.

A good spot to statesman is with Social Security, the most popular and successful government program in American history.

Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, be President Donald Trump's inauguration successful the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

For nearly 90 years, successful bully times and bad, Social Security has done precisely what it was designed to bash – wage retired each payment owed to each eligible American connected time and without delay. Last year, it kept implicit 27 million Americans out of poverty.

And yet today the Trump administration and Elon Musk have been launching an all-out and unprecedented attack connected Social Security.

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They are eliminating the ability of seniors and the disabled to apply for benefits over the phone, shutting down Social Security field offices throughout the country and planning to laic disconnected up to half of Social Security’s staff. These disastrous cuts are not making Social Security much businesslike oregon reducing fraud. They are doing the exact opposite.  

Since Trump has been in office, Social Security’s website crashed 4 times in a recent 10-day period. Lines at Social Security field offices that stay open are getting longer and it’s progressively difficult for seniors and the disabled to speech to a live quality being connected Social Security’s 1-800 number.

During his State of the Union, President Trump falsely suggested that "millions and millions" of Social Security checks are going retired to radical between the ages of 140 and 360. Not true. It is widely acknowledged, even by Trump’s ain nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, that well implicit 99% of Social Security checks are going retired to radical who earned those benefits.No 1 who is 150 oregon 200 oregon 300 years aged is receiving Social Security benefits. 

Several weeks ago, Mr. Musk falsely claimed that Social Security is "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time." Really? This is a system that has been successful effect since 1935 and has ne'er erstwhile failed to supply benefits to those who have earned them. Some Ponzi scheme!

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And it’s not conscionable Social Security that the Trump administration is attacking. They are also cutting backmost on the needs of our nation’s veterans, the men and women who put their lives on the line defending our country.  

At a time when the VA is facing a shortage of many thousands of doctors, nurses and other aesculapian workers, President Trump is making a bad concern adjacent worse by proposing to occurrence 83,000 employees at the VA. This volition undoubtedly mean that the quality of healthcare provided there volition decline and veterans will have to hold longer for the benefits they earned.

That’s not conscionable Bernie Sanders talking. That’s what the VFW and other veterans organizations are saying. Can we make VA healthcare much efficient? Absolutely. But arbitrarily firing 83,000 employees is not the way to bash it.

What other is our billionaire-led government in the process of doing? As we speak, President Trump, Mr. Musk and Republicans successful Congress are laying the groundwork to walk authorities that would supply immense taxation breaks for the wealthiest radical in the country paid for by massive cuts to healthcare, education, nutrition, housing and other programs that moving families and the most susceptible trust on.

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It has been estimated that the legislation the Republicans are penning would provide a $1.1 trillion taxation interruption to the top 1%. Another survey recovered that if all of Trump’s alleged "America First" policies are enacted, including his tariffs, the bottom 95% of Americans volition see their taxes spell up, while the top 5% volition see their taxes spell down. Way down.

And what is the largest cut they are considering? It would be an up to $880 cardinal chopped to Medicaid – a program that provides healthcare to tens of millions of children, 2 out of every 3 seniors successful nursing homes, and 43% of the revenue for community wellness centers that present superior attraction to implicit 32 million Americans. A cut of this size would devastate our already breached healthcare system and increase healthcare costs for millions of Americans.

It is nary concealed that our state is profoundly divided politically. In my view, however, there are precise fewer people, whether they are conservative, progressive oregon moderate, who deliberation that we should springiness taxation breaks to billionaires and cut backmost connected Medicaid, education and food for hungry children.

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There are precise fewer radical who think we should take a chainsaw to Social Security and the VA – and threaten the well-being of our seniors and veterans.  

The American radical want a government and an system that works for all, not just the wealthy few. It’s about clip Congress and the president listened to them.

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