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[Music] [Applause] Washington DC, are you ready? Here we go. Please welcome the senior senator from the great state of Vermont, the Honorable Bernie Sanders. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you Washington. [Applause] >> Thank you indivisible. [Applause] Thank you to the millions of Americans from our smallest towns to our larger cities in every state in our country who are gathering today at thousands of rallies. Mike Johnson, [Applause] >> the Republican Speaker of the House, called these rallies Hate America events. Boy, does he have it wrong. Millions of Americans are coming out today not because they hate America. We're here because we love America. [Applause] We're here because we're going to do everything we can to honor the sacrifices of millions of men and women who over the last 250 years fought and sometimes died to defend our democracy and our freedoms. [Applause]
In 1776, with extraordinary courage, the founders of our country announced to the world that they would no longer be ruled by the king of England, >> a king who had absolute power over their lives. They demanded freedom. [Applause] And to bring that about, they fought a bloody war against the British Empire and the most powerful military in the world. Tens of thousands of Americans died in that 8-year war. But our forefathers fought on and they won. [Applause] And in 1789 after winning that war they did something extraordinary. They established the first democratic form of government in modern history. [Music] [Applause] They said loudly and boldly to the entire world, "No more kings." [Applause] >> In America, they said, "We the people will rule." [Applause] >> And today, And today, today in the year 2025, in this dangerous moment in American history, our message is exactly the same. No, President Trump, we don't want you or any other king to rule us. [Applause] >> Thank you very much. But we will maintain our democratic form of society. >> We will not move toward authoritarianism in America. We the people will rule. [Applause] >>
When he was sworn in as the nation's first president, George Washington called this attempt at self-government quote, an experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. End quote. My fellow Americans, in an unprecedented way, that experiment is now in danger. It is in danger when we have a president who wants more and more power in his own hands and in the hands of his fellow oligarchs. It is in danger when we have a president who claims that peaceful protests in Portland, Oregon or Chicago, Illinois is an insurrection and calls in the US military >> and then threatens to arrest the mayors and governors who resist. system. It is in danger when we have masked agents working for ICE, breaking down doors, throwing people into vans without due process, and taking them to god knows where. [Applause] It is in danger when we have a president who sues and intimidates the media, who wants no criticism of him and his policies, and who undermines the first amendment of our constitution, the very foundation of American democracy. Our country is in danger when we have a president who threatens to arrest or imprison political opponents who stand against him, including the attorney general of New York State, a sitting US senator, and the governor of California. It is in danger when we have a president who undermines freedom of thought and dissent at our colleges and universities [Applause] and who attacks law firms that oppose him in court. >> It is in danger when we have a president who threatens to impeach judges who rule against him. It is in danger when we have a president who ignores Congress, refuses to spend money that Congress appropriates, and takes away money from states who voted against him. [Applause] It is in danger when we have a president who demands that states redraw congressional maps to ensure that his chosen candidates win future elections. [Applause] >> It is in danger when we have a president who illegally fires tens of thousands of federal employees right here in Washington DC. and throughout our country and rips up union contracts that workers have fought for and won. [Applause] It is in danger when we have a president who grossly violates the constitution by accepting gifts from foreign leaders, >> including a $400 million plane from the royal family of Qatar, [Applause] and then allows that family to build an Air Force facility in Idaho. our hope. >>
But let us be clear. This moment is not just about one man's greed, one man's corruption, or one man's contempt for the Constitution. This is about a handful of the wealthiest people on earth who in their insatiable greed have hijacked our economy and our political system in order to enrich themselves at the expense of working families throughout this country. [Applause] >> Yes. Yeah. I am talking about Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, >> and the other multi-billionaires who were sitting right behind Trump when he was inaugurated. Remember that? The very same billionaires who funded his campaign, who have bestowed gifts upon him, and who have in see have seen huge increases in their wealth and power since Trump took office. >> Yeah. Yes. I am talking about the insanity of one person, Mr. Musk owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. [Applause] I'm talking about the incredible injustice of the top 1% in America now owning more wealth than the bottom 93%. I'm talking about the richest people in America becoming much, much richer while 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck, struggling every day to pay their rent and mortgages, pay for child care and education, pay for their health care and prescription drugs, afford decent quality food for their kids, and maybe just maybe put aside a few bucks for their retirements. I am talking about our nation, the richest country in the history of the world, having the highest rate of childhood and senior poverty of almost any major country on earth. I am talking about our great nation having 85 million Americans uninsured or underinsured and 800,000 people who are homeless, including people a few blocks from here. All the while, while Mr. Musk is on his way to becoming a trillionaire. I am talking about the incredible danger of the richest people in this country pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence and robotics which in the next decade will decimate tens of millions of jobs for the American working class. I'm talking about a billionaire class who believe that they have the divine right to rule and who not only want massive tax breaks for themselves but who reject any form of accountability or checks on their power. My fellow Americans, we rejected the divine right of kings in the 1770s. We will not accept the divine right of oligarchs today.
And now let's take a look brief look at where we are today. Where we are today on the 18th day of a government shutdown which is depriving millions of federal employees of the paychecks they desperately need and deserve. Let me cut to the chase and tell you exactly what this shutdown is all about. as a result of Trump's big, beautiful, disgraceful bill which made massive cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, 15 million 15 million lowincome and workingclass Americans are going to lose the health care they desperately need to stay alive. And my friends, studies suggest that when you throw those 15 million people off of the health care they presently have, 50,000 of them will die unnecessarily every single year. 50,000 Americans will die unnecessarily every single year. But that's not all. As a result of that same terrible piece of legislation, over 20 million Americans are going to see on average a doubling of their health insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act. In my state of Vermont, just the other day, people received notices from insurance companies that their health care premiums, in some cases, would triple or quadruple. And that is going on all over the country. At a time when we already pay by far the highest prices in the world for health care, millions of Americans are going to see outrageous increases in their health care premiums which they cannot afford. And why is that happening? Why are the Republicans making a broken health care system, a dysfunctional health care system, even worse? Why are they bringing our health care system to the verge of collapse? >> We all know the answer. We all know the answer. It was to give a trillion dollars in tax breaks to Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mr. Ellison, and the rest of the 1%. $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the ACA, a trillion dollar in tax breaks for the 1%. That, my fellow Americans, is what this shutdown is all about. And let me be as clear as I can be. No, I will not vote for a budget that throws 15 million Americans off their healthcare. [Applause] No, I will not vote for a budget that doubles premiums for 20 million Americans. >> No, I will not vote for a budget that forces nursing homes, rural hospitals, community health centers to lay off staff and close their doors throughout this country. all to give huge tax breaks to the billionaire class. [Applause] >> So today, right now, I say to my Republican colleagues, come back from your month-long vacation. [Applause] Start negotiating and do not allow the American health care system to be destroyed. End this shutdown. [Applause] >>
My fellow Americans, we are the greatest country in the history of the world. And when we stand together and don't allow demagogues to divide us up, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. [Applause] >> Yes. Yes. We can create a vibrant democracy by ending Citizens United and not allowing billionaires to buy elections. Yes, we can join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to every man, woman, and child as a human right. [Music] Yes, we can build millions of units of lowincome and affordable housing and allow our younger generation to enjoy the American dream and own a home of their own. [Applause] Yes, we can make public colleges and universities tuitionfree [Applause] >> and have the best child care and public school system in the entire world. [Music] [Applause] Yes, we can expand Social Security so that every senior in our country can retire with dignity. [Applause] >> Yes, we can raise the minimum wage to a living wage [Music] >> and guarantee every worker the right to join a union. Yes, we can lead the world in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels and create millions of good jobs as we save the planet. [Applause] Yes, we can guarantee that every woman in this country has the right to control her own body. [Applause] Yes. Yes. We can have a foreign policy that guarantees that never again will American taxpayer dollars be used to starve children in Gaza or any place else.
And now let me let me raise a question that I have been asked over and over again. You know, Bernie, great ideas, but how you going to pay for them? Great question. Thanks for asking. And here is the answer. At a time when the wealthiest people in America have never ever had it so good. At a time when billionaires are paying an effective tax rate lower than a truck driver or a nurse, yes, the top 1% and large profitable corporations will pay their fair share in taxes. [Applause] My fellow Americans, the establishment, including the corporate media and many of my colleagues in Congress, want you to believe that you are powerless. They want you to believe that you cannot change the status quo. But that is a lie. Throughout the history of our country, when Americans have stood up and fought for justice, they have prevailed. >> When the founders stood up to King George, they were told it was impossible. But they won. [Applause] When abolitionists fought to end slavery, they were told it was impossible. But they won. >> When workers organized to form unions and stood up to their bosses, they were told it was impossible, but they won. [Music] When women demanded the right to vote, they were told it was impossible. But they won. >> When black Americans fought to end segregation, they were told it was impossible, but they won. >> When the LGBT community stood up for their rights, they were told it was impossible. But they won. >> Brothers and sisters, they did it then. We can and will do it now. [Music] >> And how do I know? How do I know that we will succeed? Take a look at this huge crowd right here in our nation's capital. [Applause] But it is not just here as I understand it. Today, October 18th, 2025, there are more people out on the streets in more communities all over our country than we have ever seen in American history. Brothers and sisters, this is not the end. This is just the beginning [Applause] >> together. When we stand united, when we don't allow Trump or anybody else to divide us up by the color of our skin or where we were born or our sexual orientation, when we stand together, we will create the kind of nation that you and I know we can become. We can and will create a nation devoted to freedom, justice, and democracy. Thank you all very much. [Applause] Morning. [Applause] [Music]