Bernie Sanders’ Political Revolution

And we said to the president – I wasn’t alone on this – we said, “Mr. President, you gotta do something. You gotta be tough on this issue.” The end result was seven years have come and gone and there are still no high-ranking CEOs who are in jail. There are kids who smoke marijuana who have criminal records, but not CEOs of large corporations. No matter what kind of crimes and illegal activity, these guys [Wall Street CEOs] are too big to jail?

That is one of the reasons why people become alienated from the political process. They just don’t see justice. From a public-policy point of view, in terms of holding people accountable for serious crimes, the Obama administration blew it. From a political point of view, in giving people confidence that we have a criminal-justice system that works for all, regardless of their wealth or power, it blew it.

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Now what do you think a president should have done? On Day One, I am appointing a special committee to investigate the crimes on Wall Street. We’re gonna move this quickly, and if these people are found guilty, they will be in jail. Nobody in America is above the law. Is that what Barack Obama said? Mm – not quite.

Is that what Bernie Sanders would say on Day One?
Absolutely. People have got to be held accountable for their crimes, and these guys committed some very serious crimes.

Is there any Republican now running that would make a tolerable president?
As the longest-serving Independent in the history of Congress, who has worked with many Republicans, who has friends who are Republicans, I hate to appear to be overly partisan. I really do. But if you look at this whole slate of Republican candidates for president, we are looking at a party that has moved very, very, very far to the right. And a party with many people who lie all the time in order to obfuscate what they really stand for.

If you scratch away the nuances, this is what they believe in: more tax breaks for billionaires; almost all believe that we should cut Social Security, some believe we should privatize it; cut Medicare; cut Medicaid; cut federal aid to education; cut nutrition programs. And many of them are seemingly interested in getting us in another war in the Middle East.

I would say Rand Paul, on occasion, comes out and says something that is sensible. On the other hand, what did he recently say? That I’m like Pol Pot? So we don’t want to overdo it here in expressing great sympathy for Rand Paul. But he has shown a consistent attention to the invasion of our privacy rights both from the federal government and corporate America. And he is much [more] reluctant than his colleagues to get us into another war. On those two issues, he has stood above the other Republican candidates.

A lot of progressives agree with your ideas, but they view Hillary Clinton as more electable. And given the dangers you just articulated in terms of the Republican agenda, does that not argue for moving ahead with a more traditional candidate?
The answer is that progressives who think that are wrong. And I mean that very sincerely. Look up the polls for a start. The last polls that I saw – check ’em out; they’re in the machine – will show you that Bernie Sanders does better against Trump than Hillary does. On many of the matchups, I do better, OK? That’s just a fact.