-Our first guest tonight is a United States Senator
from Vermont and a former presidential candidate.
Please welcome back to the show our friend
Senator Bernie Sanders. How are you, Senator?
-I'm waving with my left hand.
How's that? -[ Laughs ] Good, see?
We've got a good Zoom connection with you.
That's a great sign.
And may I just say, we've commented on it
on our show before, I'm a big fan of your backdrops.
They're always very nature themed, they're very pleasant.
And in these trying times,
I feel like they bring a little calm to the proceedings.
-And also we're trying to get people to come visit us
here in the state of Vermont.
That's how beautiful it is.
-[ Laughs ] Very nicely done.
You are no stranger to the importance of voter turnout.
One of your first elections as the mayor of Burlington,
Vermont -- true story -- you only won by 10 votes.
Is that correct?
-After a recount, that's right. -So I think that, you know,
one of the reasons that many are optimistic about former
Vice President Biden's chances is that young voters,
a lot of the voters that powered your campaign,
are going to vote for Joe Biden.
What would you say to anybody today who is still on the fence?
-Well, Seth, let me just say this,
that the younger generation in America today,
and we should all be proud of that as parents, is probably
the most progressive generation in the history of this country.
It's the generation that's anti-racist, anti-sexist,
anti-homophobia, anti-religious/bigotry.
And it appears that they are finally,
finally beginning to vote in large numbers.
In Texas and in Georgia,
young people are coming out in droves,
which could have a significant impact
on traditional Republican states.
And that's true all over this country.
So that, I think, is a great thing.
And, by the way, it will go beyond this election.
I think it's transformative for American society
if young people get deeply involved
in the political process, and we are seeing that.
In terms of what I would say to people who are still undecided,
look, the election essentially is about two things.
If you feel comfortable about having
and continue to have a president who is a pathological liar,
a president who does not believe in the Constitution
or the rule of law,
and a president who does not believe in science,
and when you don't believe in science,
you cannot address the pandemic that we're seeing today,
where the United States now
has the highest per capita death rate
for COVID-19 of any major country on Earth.
You cannot address the existential threat
of climate change unless you believe in science.
Trump does not. Biden does.
And the other point that I would make that goes
beyond Donald Trump,
and that is we need a government that begins to pay attention
to a working class in America today
that is in very, very serious trouble.
Unemployment, very high.
Wages, very low.
90 million people uninsured or underinsured.
People cannot afford their prescription drugs they need.
Kids cannot afford to go to college
or are leaving school deeply in debt.
18 million families spending
half of their limited income on housing.
So we have got to begin addressing the major crises
facing working families in this country.
Trump certainly has not done that.
Biden will begin to do that, and that's terribly important.
So I think those are the basic reasons
why people have got to get out and vote and vote for Biden.
-I think you would probably admit that the Democratic Party
got away from the working class a little bit.
This was a far more reliable bloc for the Democratic Party
maybe in the '50s and the '60s than it is today.
Say that in a Biden presidency, should it come to pass,
what would you encourage him to do to
bring the Democratic Party back
to serving the working people in this country?
-Well, Seth, you're making a very important point
that is not made often enough, to be honest with you.
And that is I think it is fair to say
that in many ways the Democratic Party
has become a party of the coastal elites,
folks who have a lot of money, upper-middle-class people,
who are good people who believe in social justice
in many respects.
But I think for many, many years,
the Democratic Party has not paid the kind of attention
to working-class needs that they should have.
And that has a lot to do with who funds campaigns, et cetera.
So I think what we have got to do --
and let me just tell you, we are working right now,
as the United States Senator from Vermont,
I am working on a 100-day program
to get the Democratic Party,
if we gain control over the Senate,
to start bursting out of the blocs
in an effort to protect working people.
So what do we have to do?
First of all, immediately, we have to do what
Mitch McConnell has not done, and that is pass
a very substantive COVID-19 emergency relief bill
to help the millions of people who are unemployed,
who have lost their income and lost their healthcare.
And that means an extension of that $600
supplement to unemployment.
It means a $1,200 check for working families,
working individuals all over this country.
It means providing healthcare to those people who have lost it,
aid to cities and towns so they don't have to lay off workers.
Second of all, we need to raise the minimum wage
to a living wage, at least 15 bucks an hour,
make it easier for workers to join unions.
Equal pay for equal work for women.
We have got to expand healthcare to all people.
We are the only major country on Earth
that does not guarantee healthcare to all people,
and that's what we have got to do.
We have got to deal with criminal justice.
We have to deal with immigration,
so there is a ton of stuff that has to be done,
but in the process, we've got to raise wages.
We've got to create millions of good-paying jobs
by rebuilding our infrastructure
and transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel,
to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
But apropos of what you said, if the Democratic Party
does not stand firmly for working families
and have the courage to take on the drug companies
and the insurance companies
and the big-money interests, shame on them.
-A very surreal thing has happened in the time
since you --
I should say since Joe Biden has become the nominee,
which is Donald Trump,
in ways, still seems to be running against you.
He brings you up both as an example
of what the party will be under a Joe Biden presidency,
how far left it will be, and other times he seems
to be courting Bernie Sanders supporters
as the perfect Donald Trump voters.
How has it been for you to watch him sort of --
this weird sort of triangulation of what it means
to be a Bernie voter in so far as how it relates to him?
-Well, first thought, we understand
that Trump lies all of the time.
And he's saying, "Oh, we're going to get
all kinds of Bernie supporters."
He's not.
The overwhelming majority of our supporters
are going to be voting for Biden because they understand
that we cannot have four more years of Donald Trump.
That's clear.
But I think what he also understands --
you know, when he goes to these rallies is that,
our campaign, when I was running,
had the largest rallies, I believe.
We had 25,000, 30,000 people coming out,
and we have really strong support.
People feel deeply about the issues
that I and other progressives have raised.
And Trump is conscious of that.
He understands that we have supporters who desperately,
desperately are demanding that we pass a Medicare-for-all
single-payer program,
that we deal with climate change,
that we deal with the systemic racism
and a terrible immigration system,
that our people feel passionately about the need
to transform America and create a government that works for all.
He understands that.
-Last thing I want to ask you, you know, in the years
since you've become sort of more of a national figure
with your presidential campaigns,
I think one of the things
that people maybe would have expected least
is how you have become close with,
friends with Dua Lipa, Halsey, Cardi B., Killer Mike.
-[ Laughs ]
-We obviously have talked about your young support.
Were you familiar with these artists five years ago?
-You're not going to tell anybody, right,
if I give you the answer here? -I promise. This is all off air.
-Just between you and me, right? -[ Laughs ]
-No, I was not, but I will tell you this.
You know, just talking to Dua
and to other of these young singers,
I find them to be extremely bright
and extremely engaged, and they understand.
In terms of Dua, I was looking, you know, at Instagram.
Her songs have like 500 million views.
Can you believe that?
500 -- you know, we got very excited
if we got 2 million views. -[ Laughs ] Right.
-500 million views all over the world.
And what she and the others, Halsey and others,
understand that it's important to use their fame
and the kind of support they have
to bring young people into the political process.
And I think that that's a beautiful thing.
-Well, it is --
they're some of my favorite conversations to watch
and it's also wonderful to be on the other side of
a conversation with you as well. Thank you so much
for being here, Senator. -My pleasure.