Live updates: ‘Fighting Oligarchy' tour brings Bernie Sanders to Fort Worth
Bernie Sanders and his 'Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here' national tour has made targeted stops in deep-red congressional districts held by Republicans. Today's stop? Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
The independent senator from Vermont said his tour highlights the country's move toward authoritarianism and the increasingly large role billionaires and big corporations play on Capitol Hill.
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat from Austin, and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat from El Paso, were among those speaking.
At least 3,000 North Texans joined labor leaders in chants of 'What kind of power? People power,' as the crowd prepared for the entrance of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sanders is appearing in Fort Worth just short of 24 hours after President Donald Trump launched a series of airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facility sites. News of the strikes came to Sanders last night while he was onstage at another Fighting Oligarchy rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Sanders did not appear at an earlier event in Amarillo due to security meetings about the strikes, according to Amarillo's KAMR.
IAM Union President Brian Bryant, the union representing Fort Worth Lockheed Martin workers, said he is worried the country is headed toward being controlled by an oligarchy, whether citizens realize it or not.
He said the issues Sanders is highlighting are ones that resonate with all workers across the United States.
'It's an issue that our members, regardless of what party they affiliate themselves with, they can connect with this because even though they may have voted for the Trump administration, they're sensing that they are being left behind with the legislation he's passing,' Bryant said. 'It's not what they envisioned. It wasn't going to be they thought he was going to be pro-worker. He hasn't done anything that's pro-worker.'
Though the union has made efforts to reach out to the Trump administration to raise questions about legislation being passed, Bryant said 'no one's listening.'
'Huge tax breaks for billionaires, and they're not doing anything to help the economy for the working people,' Bryant said. 'None of his executive orders, none of the bills that Congress has passed, they do nothing to go towards the heart of what the issue is that working people are still hurting.'
Bryant said he is glad to be representing IAM Union at the Fighting Oligarchy Tour because Sanders is standing up for the workers Trump is leaving behind.
'We aren't just taking punches anymore, we're throwing them too,' Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said as the crowd erupted in cheers.
Scudder said it's high time to flip Texas and start actually representing the people instead of allowing Republicans to 'rig the game.'
O'Rourke described a world where workers only have to work one job and money is not being funneled into billionaire's pockets. A world where the president does not stage an 'illegal war' on Iran and where veterans receive the benefits they are promised.
'But to realize this picture, we need action from all of us, and we need it right now,' O'Rourke said. 'If you see a protest, please show up and join it. If you don't see one, start on your own. This stuff is breaking through. It's changing public perception. It's applying political pressure on those in these positions of public trust, and we need more of it.'
Casar said Trump's playbook is based on dividing people.
'He would try to play native born workers against immigrant workers, black against white, against Brown, have us fight each other so the rich could get richer.'
The only way to beat the playbook every time, Casar said, is to stick together and stand in union.
On stage, O'Rourke called out Republicans on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court for their mid-decade redistricting that some residents call racial gerrymandering. He said the act was one that would draw Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons out of her seat — something Republicans on the court have been transparent about.
O'Rourke told the Star-Telegram that redrawing lines to ensure political gain is human nature and that both parties do it while in power. The only way to fight it, he said, is to vote.
'So you have to guard against human nature, and that requires you know the people, the voters of Tarrant County, rejecting this, and even within newly drawn districts, making sure that there's a political consequence for those who tried to thwart the will of the voters.'
As goes Tarrant County, so goes Texas, O'Rourke believes. With none of the 13 conservative-backed candidates winning in Tarrant County municipal elections, O'Rourke said it's a good sign for the midterm elections, but progressive candidates aren't out of the woods yet.
He said voters are rejecting fascism and authoritarianism, no matter what political party is associated with it.
'It's just, do you believe in the Constitution? Do you believe in the rule of law? Do you believe that people should be treated with dignity and respect?' O'Rourke said. 'Those are so fundamental and so basic, and I'm so encouraged that so many Americans are responding to these challenges and these choices at school board level, at the city council, at the commissioners court level across the state, in a very, very positive way.'
O'Rourke, who lost to Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022 in the race for Texas Governor by about 10 percentage points, said he will stop speaking out politically when the problems Texans are facing solved.
'Everything that I was concerned about as a member of Congress, everything I was concerned about as a candidate, I'm still concerned about today,' O'Rourke said. 'You can't get rid of me, whether I'm a candidate or not, I'm going to be out here doing the work.'
At the heart of the issues in America's political climate, Sanders said, is an immense concentration of wealth among a select few corporations and people.
'The bottom line is that today, the people on top have never, ever been better,' Sanders said to the crowd of over 6,500.
The Vermont senator recalled sitting at Trump's inauguration earlier this year, where Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos sat near the president. Behind them, he said, were a dozen more billionaires, all of whom are reaping more rewards in U.S. politics than ever before. Trump is not being slick about lining their pockets, Sanders said.
'If you recall, right behind him, plain vision for the world to see, were the three wealthiest people in our country,' Sanders said.
Throughout the night, O'Rourke, Casar and Sanders repeatedly decried this weekend's strikes in Iran as a blatantly unconstitutional effort to involve the United States in another 'forever war.'
Sanders said the vast majority of Democrats understand what is happening and plan to act against the president.
'Whether you want to go to war in Iran or argue against, it just so happens, the President of the United States doesn't have the authority to do that,' Sanders said. 'Read the Constitution of the United States. It is Congress that has that authority. And I would hope that this week, we will force that resolution, War Powers Act, onto the floor and force people to vote.'
Sanders said he doesn't accept states as being solely red or blue, he instead sees hard workers who have the same goals, needs and the same vision.
'This is not Democrat, Republican or independent,' Sanders said. 'I think it is criminal that in the richest country on Earth, we have so much income and wealth inequality that 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck. We're the only major country not to guarantee health care to all people. And all of this is related to money in politics.'
The bottom line of his tour across America, Sanders said, is that citizens need to get involved politically.
'I would urge people, in any way that they find comfortable, to stand up to the oligarchy,' Sanders said. 'Because what you have now is a small number of people who are incredibly greedy.'
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