Jake Johnson
On the campaign
trail, President Donald Trump posed in a garbage truck and performed a staged
shift at a McDonald's as he postured as a champion of the working class.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is pictured at President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
But Trump
"ignored virtually every important issue facing the working families of
this country" during his inaugural address, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
noted Tuesday in video remarks recorded after he attended the event, which was
packed with prominent billionaires and corporate executives—some of whom the
president has chosen to serve in his Cabinet.
"How crazy
is that? Our healthcare system is dysfunctional and it's wildly
expensive," said Sanders. "Not one word from Trump about how he is
going to address the healthcare crisis. We pay by far the highest prices in the
world for prescription drugs—sometimes 10 times more than the people in other
countries, and one out of four Americans are unable to afford the prescriptions
that their doctors prescribe. Not one word in his speech on the high cost of
prescription drugs."
"We have
800,000 Americans who are homeless and millions and millions of people spending
50 or 60% of their limited income on housing. We have a major housing crisis in
America, everybody knows it—and Trump in his inaugural address did not devote
one word to it," Sanders continued. "Today in America, we have more
income and wealth inequality than we have ever had... but Trump had nothing to
say, not one word, about the growing gap between the very rich and everybody
else."
Upon taking
office, Trump immediately launched sweeping attacks on immigrant families, the
environment, and the federal workforce, with more expected in the near future.
Trump also
rolled back a Biden executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug prices.
In his remarks
on Tuesday, Sanders said that "in the coming months and years, our job is
not just to respond to every absurd statement that Donald Trump makes."
"Our job is
to stay focused on the issues that are of importance to the working families of
our country, and are in fact widely supported by the American people,"
said Sanders, pointing to broad backing for guaranteeing healthcare to all as a
right, slashing drug prices, tackling the housing crisis, raising the
long-stagnant federal minimum wage, and taking bold action against the climate
emergency.
"No matter
how many executive orders he signs and no matter how many absurd statements he
makes, our goal remains the same," the senator added. "We have got to
educate, we have got to organize, we have got to put pressure on Congress to do
the right things."
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