STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Pfiffner Pioneer Park in Stevens Point, Wisconsin Friday to champion the working class” at an event hosted by the Portage County Democratic Party.
At the stop, Sanders’ fourth on the “Building Working Class Power” tour across Wisconsin, he opened by criticizing former President Donald Trump’s performance during Thursday’s presidential debate and critiquing President Joe Biden’s debate strategy.
“I think the vast majority of the American people are distressed by what they saw,” Sanders said. “In Donald Trump, they saw a pathological liar who lied and lied and lied.”
Sanders criticized Trump’s phrasing during the debate on the overturning of Roe v. Wade — that it was “something that everybody wanted” — and said the vast majority of people in Wisconsin understand reproductive freedom is the right of a woman to “control her own body and make these decisions herself.”
Sanders also said Trump lied during the debate about Social Security being damaged and threatened by undocumented immigrants.
“The truth, in fact, is exactly the opposite,” Sanders said. “For better or for worse, illegal immigrants in this country are contributing billions of dollars into the Social Security fund and are not collecting anything from that.”
Sanders said he was “distressed” by Trump’s “refusal” to answer questions and refuted the former president’s false claims that climate change was a “hoax.”
“One of the great crises facing the Midwest, facing the world, is climate change,” Sanders said. “Now Donald Trump — who as all of you know is a renowned scientist, he has studied the climate issue, year after year, talking to the great scientists all over the world — has concluded climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese.”
Sanders also touted the progress the Biden-Harris administration has made transitioning America’s energy systems away from fossil fuels.
But he also disapproved of the president’s performance during the debate.
“I have to be very honest with you and tell you that I think the president was not terribly articulate to say the least, and he was not focused,” Sanders said. “He did not defend a very strong record.”
Sanders said Biden should have been more vocal that he was the first president in American history to ever walk on a picket line with striking workers and created millions of jobs by rebuilding the country’s “crumbling infrastructure.” He also said the president should have been more clear about his agenda for the next four years.
Sanders said he also believes the most important issue facing the country — wealth inequality — is “almost never discussed.”
“Both from an economic perspective and a political perspective, we are living in a country where the people on top have never, ever had so much power,” Sanders said. “What we are seeing in America today is more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of our country.”
Sanders cited “corporate greed” as one of the causes of inflation. He said corporations are willing to export jobs to increase profits and keep wages low despite “massive increases in worker productivity.”
Sanders also condemned the American healthcare system.
“We are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right, and together, we're going to change that,” Sanders said.
Sanders said that despite breakthroughs in medicine, prescription drug costs remain too costly. He attributed this to the way the American government negotiates with pharmaceutical companies to set prices.
But Sanders said not everything is looking down. He lauded improvements in the country’s efforts to fight racism, misogyny and homophobia and commended the “rejuvenation” of the trade union movement.
Sanders’ tour of Wisconsin will conclude in La Crosse on Saturday.
Tomer Ronen is the Features Editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, state politics, sports and more. Follow him on Twitter at @TRonen22.
