Bernie Sanders has entered the honey badger phase of his political career. Yes, and I've been waiting for it. You've been waiting for it. The American people have been waiting for it. So without further ado, let's watch. You say you think the Democratic Party has, quote, abandoned the working class? [00:00:16] The working people of this country are extremely angry. They have a right to be angry. Your statement was met with some sharp reaction as well. But I don't respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class families. [00:00:33] Bottom line if you're an average working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic Party is going to the mats taking on powerful special interests and fighting for you? - I think the overwhelming answer is no. - Correct. Well, Senator Bernie Sanders appears to be taking the Democratic Party's [00:00:51] electoral losses pretty well. Obviously. I'm kidding. Not taking it well. In fact, he is using this as an opportunity to say what needs to be said about the failures of the Democratic Party, the fact that they have indeed abandoned the working class. And he's having none of it. [00:01:06] He's ready to call them out and do so aggressively and do so across multiple media platforms. Now, the heart of this conversation was this big controversy over the weekend. The daily, which is the New York Times podcast, had a conversation with Nancy Pelosi. [00:01:23] And in the context of that conversation, Pelosi was asked to share her thoughts or respond to a statement Bernie Sanders put out shortly after the presidential election, essentially stating that Democrats lost because they have abandoned the working class and they really need to get it together. [00:01:40] So here's how Pelosi reacted to that message. Bernie Sanders has not won. Let me, with all due respect, and I have a great deal of respect for him, for what he stands for, but I don't respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working class families. [00:01:59] So there you have it. Pelosi does not respect the fact that Sanders said that Democrats have abandoned working class families. But there there has to be a reason why someone like Donald Trump can not only simply win the Electoral College votes necessary to become the next president, [00:02:16] but he won the popular vote. A Republican candidate hasn't done that since 2004. So what's going on here? And we're going to get to Bernie's response to Nancy Pelosi in just a moment. But, Jake, what did you think about what Pelosi had to say there? - Yeah. - Well, look, Pelosi is not delusional. [00:02:32] That's what you would think if you saw those comments. She represents one of the three wings of the Democratic Party, and that is the wing that Bernie Sanders is doing a frontal assault on here. And so I get why Nancy Pelosi is defending her position. Her position is corporate. Democrats are awesome. [00:02:50] We should siphon as many billions of dollars in donor money as we can use it for our own power, fame, status and wealth, and then give the American people 5 to 10% of what we promised them as a release valve, so they don't get too, too angry as we continue to rob the place blind. [00:03:06] So that's her position. So obviously when Bernie Sanders begins to point that out, she is aggrieved and she fights back. And the way that they fight back, of course, is radical, absurd. Not a good Democrat disappointing his colleagues, justices seeing the old ways [00:03:22] that was super effective. And like young people, will not understand how industrialized the gaslighting was that allowed that strategy to work. Now that the gaslighting has been interrupted by social media, they're in a world of hurt because when they go to this task now, [00:03:40] especially given the results of this election, people go, wait, your wing is the clown wing. Your wing lost to Donald Trump twice, nearly three times. So you have no leg to stand on. It's over. Anyone who listens to an establishment Democrat, I mean, I feel really sorry [00:03:56] for you because you're never going to win. It's a bunch of corrupt losers. Okay, so what are the other two winners? Real quick. And then we'll get back to this back and forth. Because there's a surprising twist here as an establishment Democrat seems to be switching sides. Is that really going to happen. So we'll get to that in a second. [00:04:13] The other two wings are there is unfortunately what I've kind of landed on a title. I kind of hate it, but I but it makes sense. Which is the woke left. Okay, now the woke left if they put in their women's rights, fighting racism, etc. That's not fair. We all the entire left wants to fight racism, [00:04:31] sexism, protect women's rights, etc.. Yeah, the. Common sense fight against discrimination, ensuring that everyone has the opportunities that everyone else does. You know, whether it comes to comes to employment or being able to rent a place to live in. [00:04:46] So everyone agrees on that. So you're making a differentiation between that and the left that goes further. That's right. So what I'm referring to the woke left. I don't mean lumping all those things in. No, I'm talking about the really extreme wing and and they don't hide it. [00:05:02] They're very happy with it. And and they defend the word woke. So it's all good. Right. So because I'm trying to find a non-offensive word which they don't mind owning. Right. Because I'm not trying to be a jerk about it. I'm just saying those are the folks who say Latinx and defund the police [00:05:17] and, you know, crimes imaginary. And okay, there, I know I did a little hyperbole, but but only a little. Right. And trans people should get to set WNBA policy and Olympic policy. ET cetera. So that's the woke left, right? We're in neither one of those camps. If we're being honest. [00:05:32] At least Anna and I. The Tea Party network is huge, and there's tons of hosts in all different wings of the Democratic Party and bunch of independents, etc.. Right? So for us that we're in the third wing, the populist left. So that's Bernie, 2016 economic populism. [00:05:49] So that is why it's great to have dad back home. - Yes. - Okay. It is. So Bernie started working with the corporate wing thinking it was going to get him results and he got him some mild results from Biden. Having watched that whole interview, I think he's still way, [00:06:05] way too soft on Biden. I think he was misled on Biden. I think Biden is still squarely in the corporate wing, 98% in the corporate wing. - Yeah. - Can I jump in on that? So in the context of this Meet the Press interview, Bernie was asked to just opine [00:06:21] on the job that Biden has done, and he made it clear that Biden did some good things domestically, but also made it clear that he didn't agree with Biden's foreign policy. Now, look, I think that Bernie had influence over Biden's domestic economic policies. [00:06:39] I think he would like to have had more influence. But anything progressive that you saw from Biden domestically, I have no doubt that that was the result of conversations with Bernie Sanders. So that's probably why he has a bit of a soft spot for Biden. Biden was the only Democrat that Sanders was able to have [00:06:57] some positive influence on. So anyway, I just wanted to make that point. Yeah, I get it. And I understand Bernie's strategy and he had limited success with it. I disagree with the strategy overall. One day I hope we talk it out on air and, you know, land on a place. But what's happened is not nearly as important as what happens next. [00:07:14] So that leads me to my final point within this conversation. Then we'll tell you that maybe a Democrat flipping over to our side. ET cetera. Which is that okay, Bernie, you've said all this stuff before, then you went into a Biden enforced hibernation for four years. Now you're back. It's good to have you back. [00:07:31] But what do we do next? Because that's where we always get stuck. Because Bernie's made that speech hundreds of times before. Just didn't do it in the last four years. Right. So but what I would propose, and if Bernie has a better idea or anyone [00:07:46] has a better idea, I'm all ears, right? We're all ears here. We'd love to cover it. We'd love to talk about it. We'd love to talk about a heroic new leader in the movement that's leading in exactly the right direction. ET cetera. Right. So. But for now, my proposal is you can't just leave it at generic stuff. [00:08:03] So when a bill comes up, you have to actually call out the bad guys, including the bad guys in your party. So when you're trying to negotiate for lower drug prices, as an example, you have to say, oh, there's Senator XYZ, [00:08:20] one who is a Republican and another is a Democrat, and they both take over $800,000 from the drug companies. And that's what they're saying. Why they're saying the drug prices should be higher, not lower. Does Bernie have the courage to do that? I'm being serious. I'm not trying to get on him. I'm just saying, does he have the courage to name names? [00:08:36] And if it doesn't have to be Bernie. Does Ro Khanna? Does anyone else? Is there a single person that is a Democrat in elected office at the national level, who has the courage to call out their fellow Democrats to. Bring the corporate Democrats to heel, the way that Donald Trump has been able [00:08:55] to make the establishment Republicans essentially kneel, right, Like, I mean, just think about that. Donald Trump's willingness to essentially bully members of his own party has entirely changed that party right to the era of Trump. [00:09:13] And we don't have anyone who has that same fighting spirit on the Democratic side. I think that Bernie could do that, and I think that would be effective. In fact, in response to what Nancy Pelosi had to say, here's what Bernie decided to mention in regard to the failures of the Democratic Party [00:09:30] on behalf of the working class. Take a look. I have to say to Nancy, in the Senate in the last two years, we have not even brought forth legislation to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, despite the fact that some 20 million people in this country are working for [00:09:49] less than $15 an hour in America today, we have not brought in the Senate. We have not brought to the floor the pro act to make it easier for workers to join Unions. We're not talking about defined benefit pension plans so that our [00:10:04] elderly can retire with security. We're not talking about lifting the cap on Social Security so that we can extend the solvency of Social Security and raise benefits. Bottom line if you're an average working person out there, do you really think that the Democratic Party is going to the mats taking on powerful special interests [00:10:23] and fighting for you? - I think the overwhelming answer is no. - I mean, he's right about that. And so I like the fact that he didn't just simply cower to Nancy Pelosi. I mean, he's never really cowered, but he gave a strong response to her [00:10:40] and it was absolutely accurate. So, you know, I have mixed feelings about that because you're absolutely right about that. And thank you, Bernie, for not backing down and doubling down instead on what you said. And that's really important. On the other hand, unfortunately, he gets to an excellent example, which is the $15 minimum wage. [00:10:56] So if you remember, that was the very first thing that Biden wanted to take out of the first Covid relief bill right there. His first act was take that out of the Senate provision. Then we had to fight Bernie a little bit on even proposing an amendment. And by the way, John, you're amazing. [00:11:12] I'm positive it was your petition petition that allowed us to at least have that vote. So because that vote is so important, because it gets to the very next step is, which is what I was alluding to. Eight Democratic senators voted no on bringing forward a $15 minimum wage. [00:11:27] It wasn't just the Republicans. So now the next step must be calling them out not to vent. Not for emotional reasons, not to scare them physically like a bunch of weirdos. To ensure that their constituents know exactly what they represent and what they are unwilling to fight for, which is the working class, the common American worker. [00:11:48] So this is applying political pressure one on one. It's politics 101. What you somebody doing the wrong thing. And Trump does this brilliantly. Unfortunately he uses it only for his own benefit. So for example, Mark Sanford just slightly criticized them. [00:12:03] Very right wing congressman from South Carolina. And Trump said, I'm going to eliminate you. And he did. And so he had a guy run that was all pro-Trump. They defeated Mark Sanford in the primary. And that brings us to step number three. So you call them out, you apply political pressure and then [00:12:19] eventually you defeat them in primaries. And once you've done that in a spectacular public fashion 3 or 4 times, which is what we were trying to do with justice Democrats, but unfortunately they also lost their way. But if we go back to that strategy and Bernie or whoever the new leader is [00:12:34] eliminates 3 or 4 corporate Democrats, and they begin to understand the lesson that if you keep serving your donors instead of your voters, we're going to eliminate you in primaries. Well, that's how you get things done, because then you begin to move the party back to where it's supposed to be. [00:12:51] If you don't. I got to keep it real with all you guys. If none of our elected politicians, including the progressives, the populists, etc. If none of them have that courage, we can't do this so. Or it has to be someone from the outside just doing it and saying sorry, [00:13:09] you guys are too soft and weak. That's why you keep losing to the corporate wing. We need a fighter. We need an enforcer to say, here's where we're drawing the line. And if you vote against the American people, they're going to be consequences. - Political consequences. - Yeah, I think that that's a much better strategy than playing patty cakes [00:13:26] with the corporate wing of the Democratic Party that clearly has no interest in representing what's best for the average American. Thanks for watching The Young Turks really appreciate it. Another way to show support is through YouTube memberships. You'll get to interact with us more. There's live chat emojis, badges. [00:13:44] You've got emojis of me Anna John Jr. So those are super fun. But you also get playback of our exclusive member only shows and specials right after they air. So all of that, all you got to do is click that join button right underneath the video. [00:13:59] Thank you.