OMG: Bernie Sanders on “Trump jinx” after Knicks lose game 3

I'm joined now by Senator Bernie. Sanders. Senator, something that we have. seen more and more of lately, especially. from my vantage out here in California, is kind of this renewed focus on voter. fraud from these Republicans. And the. fact that they're doing it out here in. California and claiming that Spencer. Pratt, Republican-backed candidate, not winning. the the not advancing to the runoff in. Los Angeles is somehow evidence of fraud. goes to show that they're not being. they're not being picky about where they.

deploy these claims. But from from from. your point of view, can I have your. reaction to this renewed focus yet again. on any election where Republicans don't. win, well, that must be the result of. voter fraud. >> Well, that's just what I was going to. say. Elections are always clean and good. and a wholesome when Republicans win. Isn't that amazing? >> [snorts]. >> What a what a amazing coincidence. But. when they lose, there's fraud. Look, in. Trump, we have an authoritarian. president. What happens, among many.

other things, not to believe in. democracy. And he has tried to undermine democracy. in many many ways in an unprecedented. way, demanding new gerrymandering. districts in order to benefit. Republicans. His friends pushing the. repeal of the Voting Rights Act, making. it harder for blacks to get. representation in Congress. Literally. going after his political opponents and.

threatening them with criminal actions. This is a guy who doesn't believe in. democracy, but I think you're right. When you talk about elections being. fraudulent whenever you lose, the goal. is to create among the people real. doubts about whether or not they are. living in a democracy, whether their. voice matters at all. And what's the. conclusion that you reach? If the whole. system is broken, full of all of the. media, ABC, CBS, NBC, they're all. corrupt. The system is corrupt. What's. the solution, Brian? What do we need?

>> What? >> You need an authoritarian leader who cut. through all this thing. That's what you. need. >> The only person who The only person who. could fix it. >> I mean, I heard him. You may have seen. him on uh Meet the Press the other day. I mean, the real paranoia that anyone. who criticizes him is is corrupt and is. on the take and the police who defended. the uh capital against the. insurrectionists on January 6th are. dirty cops. Um so, you got a guy who is very much an.

authoritarian. He admires people, frankly, like Putin. He loves MBS in. Saudi Arabia, right? And that's the kind of government we. want where you have a few billionaires. running the show. and ordinary people not having any. power. That is what is particularly uh. upsetting about these bogus charges. >> Is there any sense from your Republican. colleagues who see the dismantling of. this system and recognize that, you. know, it may come back to bite them? I. mean, if you look at how Trump has. undermined the system as it relates to. Georgia, we now have two Democratic.

senators from Georgia because Trump. spent that entire runoff basically. denigrating the effectiveness of mail-in. voting. And so, is there any pushback. from your Republican colleagues as he. continues to undermine trust in every. facet of our system? >> I think you know, there there is, but I. think there's also a great fear. What. did Trump manage to do in the last. month? >> Right. Get rid of Thomas Massie, get rid. of Bill Cassidy, get rid of John Cornyn. >> Right. Massie and and these others, people. Massie more than others who had the.

principle, you know, who was is a very, very conservative guy, but had the guts. to stand up to Trump and they put. unbelievable amounts of money into the. campaign and they defeated him. So, the. word goes out. You want to stand up. against that you're in the Republican. body, you want to stand up against. Donald Trump, we're going to spend as. much as it takes to defeat you. So, So where we are. You have a now, as. part of Trump's authoritarian uh. tendencies. to become a. um a cult of the individual.

Donald Trump says this, yes Mr. Trump, yes Mr. President, and we're going to. name all kinds of buildings after you. You are so great. Uh it's a it is uh it really is in a. deep sense, you know, I'm not a. conservative Republican. But to see so many of these Republicans. give up all of their principles uh in. bowing down to an authoritarian, not a. good thing. >> On the point of bowing down to an. authoritarian, I think no person better. exemplifies that than Todd Blanche, who.

Donald Trump has just nominated to be. his permanent attorney general. Um. do you think that Todd Blanche will have. the support of enough Republicans to be. able to to get confirmed as AG? >> I'm not much into speculating. Uh we. will see what happens. But once again, it will take uh an act of courage for. Republicans to stand up to Trump. What. you may see. uh amusingly is those Republicans who. have been defeated by Trump suddenly. becoming very courageous, you know, they've nothing left to lose.

>> Right. >> Uh but I don't know. But I'll tell you. one thing that is taking place I think. this week, which is of interest, is our friend Elon Musk may become the. first trillionaire in the history of. this country. So you're going to have a guy who's a. trillionaire at a time when 60 million. 60% of our people. are living paycheck to paycheck. People. can't afford housing, groceries, child. care. And this one guy owns uh more wealth. than the bottom 53% of American. households.

So I think to my mind, Brian, if you, you know, would ask me, this is the issue of our time. Uh we are. looking at a holigarchy big time, and. not only in terms of income and wealth. inequality, uh as everybody knows, Mr. Musk put over. $270 million. to elect Trump. All right. So, this guy is enormously. political but not only in the United. States, putting in God knows what into. right-wing extremist parties all over. the world. He owns Twitter.

So, you have a man who controls a big. influence in media, big influence in. politics, big influence in the economy, and that uh power is getting even. stronger. >> Well, kind of a a good way to contrast. what uh Elon Musk did with Doge, which. was basically just a scam from the. start. It was a way for him to give this. to give this veneer of him helping. eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse while. actually just delivering delivering for. himself uh and eliminating all of the. regulators and the cops on the beat who.

would regulate his own companies. But, we've seen Mayor Mamdani in New York. um offer up a kind of a a virtuous. version of Doge, which is COGE, the. Commission on Government Efficiency. And. so, do you think it's possible here that. that could serve as a blueprint um not. for the bad-faith corrupt iteration of. of what Elon Musk was trying to do, but. but something other Democrats should. should kind of um seek to co-opt as we. move. >> The answer is yes. Uh.

a capital Y, capital E, capital S. Uh you're quite right. What Doge was. about is trying to. dismantle the US government, uh make it less effective in regulating. uh companies like. uh Musk's, um and also weakening the ability of the. government to deliver for the American. people. But, having said that, Brian, if you. think that there is not massive amounts.

of bureaucracy within the government, in. the federal government, in many state. governments, local governments, you. would be wrong. >> Yeah. >> And often that is not to do with the. workers themselves. It's the kind of. management that they have. Um so, I think what you know, when I was. mayor of Burlington, you know, about 200. years ago, uh I think I got myself on the front. page of the Wall Street Journal because. we ran an efficient government. So, I. wanted to put money into children, into. the arts, into housing, into the needs.

of ordinary people, not into. bureaucracy. Not into. um consultants and all that stuff. So, I. think Mondaini is focusing on how you. can make a very large government more. efficient, so you save money that you. could use for the needs of working. people. >> Well, you were um an outspoken advocate. for uh for Zephyr Teachout when he was. on the campaign trail, just as you're as. you've been a an outspoken advocate for. other progressive candidates. Can you.

talk a little bit about the slate of. candidates that you've endorsed thus. far, this progressive slate of. candidates, and how they've been faring. in this election cycle? >> Well, thanks for asking. And the answer. is uh we have been doing quite well. Uh last Tuesday, in fact, we had a. really good night. I think we won five. or six uh primaries. Um. uh and before that, we have also won. some important victories. Uh. one of the key races that we won uh was. Dr. uh Adam Hamawi in New Jersey. This.

is a physician, a man who volunteered to. serve. uh in. uh in Gaza. Uh he also was in the military, and. ironically, he treated a colleague of. mine, Tammy Duckworth uh Tammy. Duckworth, uh who was in a terrible. helicopter accident, >> Yeah. >> uh and lost her legs. He was her surgeon. at that moment. Uh he is a very strong progressive. He's. an advocate for Medicare for all, uh and.

he won a. landslide victory against a lot of. opposition. Uh. And Nydia mean here also in New Jersey, won and she is now the congresswoman. from the district. Uh, Jane Kim out in. California, uh, is in first place last I. heard in terms of being insurance. commissioner, which is, uh, a very, uh, big deal. Uh, uh, Randy Vieau in California took on. the Democratic establishment,

uh, won there. Uh, and we won some other victories as. well. I think Uh, and I trust that. people understand that from the a. progressive perspective, what we are doing right now is not only. taking on Trump and his. authoritarianism, his kleptocracy, his wars, uh, but we. also taking on the Democratic. establishment because I believe that at. the end of the day it's just not good. enough to say, "I'm against Trump, vote. for me." Well, you have to say, "I am. against Trump for all of the right.

reasons here.". But you have to give people an. alternative. Working people are hurting. And if you simply say Trump is terrible, vote for me, it's not good enough. The. healthcare system is collapsing. Do you. believe in Medicare for all or not? Musk is going to become a trillionaire. Do you think we should have a tax on. billionaires or do you not? AI is moving. in a very rapid way and it could be very. dangerous for working people, for our. kids.

Do you think we should have a moratorium. on data centers? Do you support the idea. of the sovereign, uh, AI American, uh, a fund, a sovereign. fund which I proposed and other ideas. that are out there? In other words, it's. not good enough to be against Trump. You. need to have a vision that speaks to the. needs of the working class of this. country. >> And I want to talk about AI, uh, in the. last few minutes that we have because. you you have been outspoken about this. Not a lot of people are speaking about. this who should be. Um, and it's going.

to have probably the biggest impact on. working people of any other issue that. we're contending with, at least. >> Brian, why do you think you are quite. right? And I got involved in this not because I. stay up nights worrying about it. I do. I'm looking around me. >> Yeah. >> And I'm waiting for people to say, "Hey, we got to do something about this. enormously consequential technology. It's going to impact every man, woman, and child in this country." Why do you. think people in Congress are not talking. about it? >> Well, I think they're getting paid not. to regulate it.

>> [laughter]. >> You got it. >> And so. >> It has everything to do with a corrupt. campaign finance system. You ask me how. our candidates are doing. They're doing. great, but they are taking on day after. day. uh crypto money, they're taking on AI. money, they're taking on AIPAC money, they're taking on military-industrial. complex money. You have a corrupt. system. And in terms of AI uh the AI. industry is prepared to spend hundreds. of millions of dollars to make sure the.

candidates do not say, "Hey, wait a. second. Maybe we should have some strong. regulation. Maybe the American people. should benefit from AI rather than just. a handful of billionaires.". >> And so, can you give kind of a rundown. of what you would like to see in terms. of regulation? And and on top of that, is there any appetite among your. colleagues in the Senate uh to sign on. to this, or are they just content to. allow these AI companies to run. roughshod over working-class Americans? >> They're not content, they're just. afraid. Look, it's Look, I mean, you're.

running for office, okay? So, you want. to decide for one for office. You're. interested in how we can. make AI work for the American people, not just the billionaires. And as soon as you open your mouth. there will be millions of dollars in. campaign contributions coming in against. you. >> Yeah. >> That's what the issue is. Not They know. They know and understand. They're not. dumb. They understand what's going on. They want to win elections. And that. speaks to the absolute need not only to. overturn Citizens United, but. immediately we can, legally we believe,

get super PACs out of political. campaigns. And that's something I'm working really. hard on. But if we don't do that, then. you're not going to have candidates and. members of Congress speaking about AI, you're not going to have them speaking. about Israel, you're not going to have. them speaking. about climate change or other important. issues. >> Can you speak a little bit about the. sovereign wealth fund that you were. discussing moments moments. >> Okay, first thought. the concept of a sovereign wealth fund.

is not a new idea. There are actually. many of them all over the world. The. largest one is in Norway. In Norway, which has I think a two trillion dollar. sovereign wealth fund based on the. revenue they generated from their. publicly owned oil resources. All right? They had a public resources public. resource, they made money off it, it. went to the people, not to a handful. fossil fuel executives. All right? I'm not a great fan of oil, you know, we. are worried about climate change. But. that principle that when you have a. natural resource it should benefit.

ordinary people, not just the. handful of wealthy people, is the. principle we're operating on now. In. terms of AI, what is the foundation, Ryan, of AI? What is it based on? It is. based on the human labor, the. production, the work that everybody has. on I've written a number of books. Guess. what? If you go into. chat GPT, you'll get information about. my book. That's stuff you're. programming. People want information, it. will be there. It incorporates, it. sweeps up all human knowledge.

So there are two aspects to the. sovereign wealth fund. Number one, that the public will own 50%. of the stock of these companies. Now, why 50%? Because that will. be that will put us in a position to. stop. negative uh, ideas that will impact. working people or impact privacy rights. or impact the mental health of our kids. or maybe even lead to an existential.

threat to the planet. That is, we will. be able to say no to Mr. Musk. and Mr. Zuckerberg and the other guys. Second of all, to the degree that AI. becomes a revenue generator, which it. certainly will, I want the benefits to. go to the American people, not just a. handful of billionaires. But most. importantly of those two issues, the. most important is the public has got to. have the ability to say, "Sorry, you're. not going to endanger the health of our. children. Sorry, you're not going to.

throw tens of millions of workers out on. the street. Sorry, you're not going to. invade our privacy, whatever it may be.". AI is the most transformational. technology in the history of humanity. We cannot allow a handful of plutocrats. to determine the future. >> Perfectly put. Senator Sanders, I'm. going to end with with one last. question. You and I both basically come. from, you know, a long time ago, pretty. much the same neighborhood in in. Brooklyn. And so I'm sure there's some. some New York sports teams affinity.

deep down here. And I'm just wondering. whether you think that after the Knicks. won game one and game two, only for. Trump to show up and then they and then. all of a sudden their 13-game win streak. is snapped, do you think the Trump jinx. is real? >> [laughter]. >> Uh, I remember well, I will tell you I. did grow up in Brooklyn and we used to. way up in Madison, the old Madison. Square Garden, uh, watch the Knicks. play. So yeah, I am a I wish the Knicks.

the very, very best. And on a serious. tone, you know, Trump going there, what. Mondani has done, which was really. great, is have these viewing parties, you know, around the city. And he had. one I think the plan was to have one. outside of Madison Square Garden. And it. was canceled because of Trump. And it. caused a lot of, you know, disconcern, uh, in in the in New York City. So, I. think with luck Trump will not be at the. next game and the Knicks will win. >> That's it. We'll leave it there. Senator. Sanders, as always, it's it's a pleasure. to speak with you. >> Thanks, Brian. Take care.

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