WASHINGTON — As progressives seek to place a new tax on billionaires on California’s November ballot, a Republican congressman is moving in the opposite direction: proposing federal legislation that would block states from taxing the assets of former residents.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), who faces a tough reelection challenge under California’s redrawn congressional maps, says he will introduce the “Keep Jobs in California Act of 2026” on Friday. The measure would prohibit any state from levying taxes retroactively on individuals who no longer live there.
The proposed legislation adds another layer to what has already been a fiery debate over California’s approach to taxing the ultrawealthy. It has created divisions among Democrats and has placed Los Angeles at the center of a broader political fight, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) set to hold a rally on Wednesday night in support of the wealth tax.
Kiley said he drafted the bill in reaction to reports that several of California’s most prominent billionaires — including Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin — are planning to leave the state in anticipation of the wealth tax being enacted.
“California’s proposed wealth tax is an unprecedented attempt to chase down people who have already left as a result of the state’s poor policies,” Kiley said in a statement Wednesday. “Many of our state’s leading job creators are leaving preemptively.”
Kiley said it would be “fundamentally unfair” to retroactively impose taxes on former residents.
“California already has the highest income tax of any state in the country, the highest gas tax, the highest overall tax burden,” Kiley said in a House floor speech this month. “But a wealth tax is something unique because a wealth tax is not merely the taxation of earned income, it is the confiscation of assets.”
The fate of Kiley’s proposal is just as uncertain as his future in Congress. His 5th Congressional District, which hugs the Nevada border, has been sliced up into six districts under California’s voter-approved Proposition 50, and he has not yet picked one to run in for reelection.
The Billionaire Tax Act, which backers are pushing to get on the November ballot, would charge California’s 200-plus billionaires a one-time 5% tax on their net worth to backfill billions of dollars in Republican-led cuts to federal healthcare funding for middle-class and low-income residents. It is being proposed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.
In his floor speech, Kiley worried that the tax, if approved, could cause the state’s economy to collapse.
“What’s especially threatening about this is that our state’s tax structure is essentially a house of cards,” Kiley said. “You have a system that is incredibly volatile, where top 1% of earners account for 50% of the tax revenue.”
But supporters of the wealth tax argue the measure is one of the few ways that can help the state seek new revenue as it faces economic uncertainty.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, is urging Californians to back the measure, which he says would “provide the necessary funding to prevent more than 3 million working-class Californians from losing the healthcare they currently have — and would help prevent the closures of California hospitals and emergency rooms.”
“It should be common sense that the billionaires pay just slightly more so that entire communities can preserve access to life-saving medical care,” Sanders said in a statement this month. “Our country needs access to hospitals and emergency rooms, not more tax breaks for billionaires.”
Other Democrats are not so sure.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is eyeing a presidential bid in 2028, has opposed the measure. He has warned a state-by-state approach to taxing the wealthy could stifle innovation and entrepreneurship.
Some of the wealthiest people in the world are also taking steps to defeat the measure.
Brin is donating $20 million to a California political drive to prevent the wealth tax from becoming law, according to a disclosure reviewed by the New York Times. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and the chairman of Palantir, has also donated millions to a committee working to defeat the proposed measure, the New York Times reported.
This afternoon, Zohran Mamdaniwas sworn in as New York City’s youngest mayor “in generations,” to quote Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s opening remarks at the ceremony. The 34-year-old is also the first South Asian and Muslim to take on the role, which he underscored by taking his oath with two family Qurans during both of his swearing-ins, one held privately at midnight on January 1 and a second, public one held in the afternoon at City Hall Plaza.
In his inaugural speech, Mamdani vowed to govern “expansively and audaciously,” and said that New York will not be a city “governed only by the one percent,” or “a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.” He was sworn in by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who thanked New York City for electing Mamdani as mayor, and reminded the crowd that his ideas are “not radical.”
And yet, Mamdani and his First Lady, 28-year-old illustrator Rama Duwaji, have broken the political mold. Not solely because of Mamdani’s perhaps not radical but inarguably progressive ideas—to, say, tax the rich or enforce a rent freeze—but also because of their ages and backgrounds, which have been underscored repeatedly by the media as cause of celebration or with Islamophobic dismay.
Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, and Duwaji in Texas to Syrian Muslim progenitors. They are young and progressive, and they also look the part. The balancing act moving forward, as it pertains to their style now that they’re embedded in the political establishment, will be to negotiate between the newfound gloss of their public image while keeping it consistent with their politics.
When Mamdani celebrated his election in November of 2025, Duwaji donned a top by London-based Palestinian-Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi paired with a skirt by the New York-born and -based Ulla Johnson, who is known for her bohemian flair. She managed the task of looking both like a first lady and a 20-something woman dressing for a special occasion with aplomb. Back then, she had been advised—free of charge—by stylist Bailey Moon, who dresses the likes of Morgan Spector and Cristin Milioti and is most widely known for having worked with Jill Biden and her family throughout president Joe Biden’s administration.
Rama Duwaji and Zohran Mamdani on election night in November, 2025.
Probably the most important member of that group was New York state governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul, a centrist who is up for reelection this year, strongly encouraged Mamdani to retain the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch; when he agreed, Hochul saw it as a sign of Mamdani’s pragmatism on fighting crime and of his desire to reach out to political moderates.
The governor is highly interested in finding common ground with Mamdani on his push for universal day care. How to pay the multi-billion-dollar tab for such a plan, though, will be the tricky part, and may be where her differences with Mamdani come to a head. “We will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few!” the mayor declared in his speech, drawing one of his biggest ovations. Hochul, though, has repeatedly taken a hard line against raising personal income taxes. “The last thing she wants to do is raise taxes on anybody. And we do tax the rich already,” a Hochul insider told me in advance of Mamdani’s inauguration. “It doesn’t mean that there’s not room for an ongoing conversation.”
Mamdani intends to raise the volume of that conversation by incorporating the voices of the people who were standing on Broadway today. He has spoken with Barack Obama about how the former president’s “Obama for America” organization did not translate campaign momentum into governing momentum. Mamdani doesn’t plan to make the same mistake, and a key ally is already on the case. The Democratic Socialists of America were crucial to Mamdani’s upset campaign win, organizing a door-knocking army of nearly 100,000 volunteers. “We’re mounting a massive campaign to raise revenue,” says Grace Mausser, a co-chair of DSA’s New York City chapter. “One of the days it snowed pretty heavily in December, we knocked on 15,000 doors. We’re asking them to call their legislators, their assembly members, and their state senators and tell them that they want to tax the rich to fund child-care.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — For a day, at least, beleaguered Democrats are hopeful again. But just beneath the party’s relief at securing its first big electoral wins since last November’s drubbing lay unresolved questions about its direction heading into next year’s midterm elections.
The Election Day romp of Republicans stretched from deep-blue New York and California to swing states Georgia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. There were signs that key voting groups, including young people, Black voters and Hispanics who shifted toward President Donald Trump’s Republican Party just a year ago, may be shifting back. And Democratic leaders across the political spectrum coalesced behind a simple message focused on Trump’s failure to address rising costs and everyday kitchen table issues.
The dominant performance sparked a new round of debate among the party’s establishment-minded pragmatists and fiery progressives over which approach led to Tuesday’s victories, and which path to take into the high-stakes 2026 midterm elections and beyond. The lessons Democrats learn from the victories will help determine the party’s leading message and messengers next year — when elections will decide the balance of power in Congress for the second half of Trump’s term — and potentially in the 2028 presidential race, which has already entered its earliest stages.
People cheer as Democrat Abigail Spanberger walks out on stage after she was declared the winner of the Virginia governor’s race during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
People cheer as Democrat Abigail Spanberger walks out on stage after she was declared the winner of the Virginia governor’s race during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“Of course, there’s a division within the Democratic Party. There’s no secret,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told reporters at a Capitol Hill press conference about the election results.
Sanders and his chief political strategist pointed to the success of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as a model for Democrats across the country. But Rep. Suzan Del Bene, who leads the House Democrats’ midterm campaign strategy, avoided saying Mamdani’s name when asked about his success.
Del Bene instead cheered the moderate approach adopted by Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in successful races for governor in Virginia and New Jersey as a more viable track for candidates outside of a Democratic stronghold like New York City.
“New York is bright blue … and the path to the majority in the House is going to be through purple districts,” she told The Associated Press. “The people of Arizona, Iowa and Nebraska aren’t focused on the mayor of New York.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a likely Democratic presidential prospect who campaigned alongside Democrats in several states leading up to Tuesday’s elections, noted the candidates hit on a common issue that resonated with voters, regardless of location.
“All of these candidates who won in these different states were focused on peoples’ everyday needs,” Shapiro said. “And you saw voters in every one of those states and cities showing up to send a clear message to Donald Trump that they’re rejecting his chaos.”
Intraparty criticism
Amid Democrats’ celebratory phone calls and news conferences, members of the party’s different wings had some sharp critiques for each other.
While Shapiro cheered the party’s success during a Wednesday interview, he also acknowledged concerns about Mamdani in New York.
Shapiro, one of the nation’s most prominent Jewish elected leaders, said he’s not comfortable with some of Mamdani’s comments on Israel. The New York mayor-elect, a Muslim, has described Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks as “genocide” against the Palestinian people and has been slow to condemn rhetoric linked to anti-Semitism.
“I’ve expressed that to him personally. We’ve had good private communications,” Shapiro said of his concerns. “And I hope, as he did last night in his victory speech, that he’ll be a mayor that protects all New Yorkers and tries to bring people together.”
Meanwhile, Sanders’ political strategist, Faiz Shakir, warned Democrats against embracing “cookie cutter campaigns that say nothing and do nothing” — a reference to centrist Democrats Spanberger and Sherrill.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat who defeated democratic socialist Omar Fateh to win a third term, said at a news conference Wednesday that “we have to love our city more than our ideology.”
“We need to be doing everything possible to push back on authoritarianism and what Donald Trump is doing,” Frey said. “And at the same time, the opposite of Donald Trump extremism is not the opposite extreme.”
Signs welcomes voters on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Del Mar, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Signs welcomes voters on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Del Mar, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Democrats win everywhere
Despite potential cracks in the Democratic coalition, it’s hard to understate the extent of the party’s electoral success.
In Georgia, two Democrats cruised to wins over Republican incumbents in elections to the state Public Service Commission, delivering the largest statewide margins of victory by Democrats in more than 20 years.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats swept not only three state Supreme Court races, but every county seat in presidential swing counties like Bucks and Erie Counties, including sheriffs. Bucks County elected its first Democratic district attorney as Democrats there also won key school board races and county judgeships.
Maine voters defeated a Republican-backed measure that would have mandated showing an ID at the polls. Colorado approved raising taxes on people earning more than $300,000 annually to fund school meal programs and food assistance for low-income state residents. And California voters overwhelmingly backed a charge led by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw its congressional map to give Democrats as many as five more House seats in upcoming elections.
Key groups coming back to Democrats
Trump made inroads with Black and Hispanic voters in 2024. But this week, Democrats scored strong performances with non-white voters in New Jersey and Virginia that offered promise.
About 7 in 10 voters in New Jersey were white, according to the AP Voter Poll. And Sherrill won about half that group. But she made up for her relative weakness with whites with a strong showing among Black, Hispanic and Asian voters.
The vast majority — about 9 in 10 — of Black voters supported Sherrill, as did about 8 in 10 Asian voters.
Hispanic voters in New Jersey were more divided, but about two-thirds supported Sherrill; only about 3 in 10 voted for the Republican nominee, Jack Ciattarelli.
The pattern was similar in Virginia, where Spanberger performed well among Black voters, Hispanic voters and Asian voters, even though she didn’t win a majority of white voters.
This combination of photos taken on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, shows Abigail Spanberger in Richmond, Va., left, Zohran Mamdani in New York, center, and Mikie Sherrill in East Brunswick, N.J. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, Yuki Iwamura and Matt Rourke)
This combination of photos taken on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, shows Abigail Spanberger in Richmond, Va., left, Zohran Mamdani in New York, center, and Mikie Sherrill in East Brunswick, N.J. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, Yuki Iwamura and Matt Rourke)
Democrats will soon face a choice
The debate over the party’s future is already starting to play out in key midterm elections where Democrats have just begun intra-party primary contests.
The choice is stark in Maine’s high-stakes Senate race, where Democrats will pick from a field that features establishment favorite, Gov. Jan Mills, and Sanders-endorsed populist Graham Platner. A similar dynamic could play out in key contests across Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Michigan.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is aligned with the progressive wing of the party, said the people he speaks to are demanding bold action to address their economic concerns.
“Folks are so frustrated by how hard its become to afford a dignified life here in Michigan and across the country,” he said.
“I’m sure the corporate donors don’t want us to push too hard,” El-Sayed continued. “My worry is the very same people who told us we were just fine in 2024 will miss the mandate.”
___
Associated Press reporter Mike Catalini in Newark and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed.
What to know about the Democratic Socialists of America – CBS News
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As Zohran Mamdani’s campaign continues to draw national and even international attention, CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett takes a deeper look at the state of socialism in America and Mamdani’s rise.
Earlier this week, I spoke to Platner, who told me that his journey into politics began, in high school, when he read work by the historian Howard Zinn. Following graduation, he enlisted in the Marine infantry; after serving for four years, he went to George Washington University, where he discovered the writing of the anarchist scholar David Graeber and the historian Greg Grandin. He did another stint in the military, including a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and came back to the United States disillusioned with the American project, especially its foreign policy. He started listening to podcasts, most notably “The Majority Report,” hosted by Sam Seder and Michael Brooks. This was around 2016, and while Platner supported Bernie Sanders and his policies, he was in a “time of deep frustration and isolation,” he said, before he returned to Afghanistan, in 2018.
Platner does see his campaign as an extension of Sanders’s, he said—maybe not exactly in terms of its rhetoric so much as in its animating force. He talked with me for a while about the long history of economic-populist political movements in America, and about how they died out after the Vietnam War, as labor lost power during the Reagan Administration and a new type of liberal politics was formed under Bill Clinton. Platner argues that the old momentum did not totally dissipate but merely needed Sanders to kick it back up. “Those underlying problems never got fixed, and so the energy has just remained there,” he said. “The inequality is still there and all the underlying structures are still in place.” His campaign, like that of Sanders, is rooted in “movement politics,” he said, and in “building power through organizing.”
The problem with the dirtbag left wasn’t that it was uncouth or edgy or rude—those were its selling points—but, rather, that it could sometimes feel too intellectual, insider-y, and a bit too close to the élites that it was always criticizing. When populist rabble-rousing comes from fancy professors, writers, and podcasters who went to private school, you don’t take it all that seriously. Sanders had given them a vehicle for political change, but, in the years between his runs for President, much of the online left fell into a blinkered, Noam Chomsky-inspired form of media criticism—at times, it seemed as though they believed that the greatest threats to their socialist-ish, decidedly metropolitan utopia could all be found in the opinion sections of the Times and the feature well of The Atlantic. They flagged bad headlines and dog-piled on clumsy tweets from journalists, accumulating some influence in the process, but mostly among people like me—a left-leaning journalist at a fancy magazine who lives in one of the most expensive cities in America.
Meanwhile, the electoral legacy of the Sanders insurgency had been carried most notably by a trio of women of color: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. Each of these politicians has achieved national prominence, but one could imagine how their identities might place a ceiling on any national ambitions. What was needed, one might conclude, was a rural white guy, perhaps one who had served as a grunt overseas and had an unassailably salt-of-the-earth job—say, an oyster farmer. Someone who could credibly talk to the alienated, broke people of America about economic redistribution.
Platner, it turns out, had even more in common with the enfants terribles of the online left than people initially realized. Like them, he posted a lot online. He did so anonymously, and used offensive language that was meant to provoke a reaction. Having read his Reddit archive, I believe that his posts—which, in addition to homophobic language, include a question about Black people’s tipping habits—were mischaracterized in the early news coverage. He was not some reactionary who is now posing, for whatever reason, as a liberal; in most of his posts, Platner was writing about military stuff, and about being the only lefty in his platoon. He also discussed his disenchantment with the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan and spoke out, on several occasions, about racist and violent police practices. Granted, he was not typing out words that might be suitable for an appearance on “Meet the Press.” Platner sounded like someone who had listened to a lot of leftist podcasts.
“People are now realizing there’s a lot of value in affinity groups and doing volunteer-led initiatives like this,” 25-year-old Cait Camelia, one of the founders of Hot Girls for Zohran, tells Vanity Fair. “The Hot Girl brand has become a little bit of a blueprint.”
Camelia, who explained this wasn’t initially intended to become an organization, was inspired by Hot Girls for Bernie, a hashtag turned grassroots campaign that began trending in 2020 when supporters of the Vermont senator rallied online in the lead-up to the Democratic primaries. “Bernie Sanders is hot and so am I,” one Twitter user said at the time; “#hotgirlsforbernie is a state of mind and a state of being,” wrote another.
This blueprint—since adapted and perfected for Mamdani—perhaps even dates back to “Crush on Obama,” the viral 2007 YouTube video featuring a young woman singing about her love for then US senator Barack Obama who called herself an “Obama Girl.”
Karya Schanilec/Courtesy of Hot Girls 4 Zohran.
“More stuff like this will be popping up all the time,” Obama told The Des Moines Register at the time, and he wasn’t wrong. The playbook inspired 24-year-old conservative influencer and journalist Emily Austin, who, after interviewing 67-year-old former governor Cuomo for the debut episode of her new podcast, The Emily Austin Show, last week, launched a Hot Girls offshoot in his honor.
Few people require less introduction than Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. A relentless advocate for universal health care, labor rights, and taxing the rich, the two-time Democratic presidential candidate, now 84 years old, serves as de facto maestro of the American progressive movement. If you’ve got a bone to pick with the one percent, chances are you were at least partially inspired by his various campaigns, speeches, and general gadflyery.
In his new book, Fight Oligarchy, Sanders once again makes his pitch for a more equitable society, this time cast through the prism of our current authoritarian moment. Packed with evidentiary statistics and troubling examples, Sanders’s latest suggests that even if billionaires previously held an antagonistic amount of power, the United States (and indeed the world) is now on the precipice of becoming an outright oligarchy—a society that functions solely for the whims of the ultrawealthy, to the detriment of everyone else.
“As bad as the situation has been in the past, it is worse today,” Sanders tells Vanity Fair. “And then when you also recognize Trump and his movement toward authoritarianism…”
Senator Sanders spoke with Vanity Fair about the connections between oligarchal policy and some of the most looming issues of our day, from soaring housing costs to migration and Gaza. The solution, he argues, will involve massive systemic change spurred by the participation of everyday people—specifically more nonpoliticians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez running for office. (The call ended before we could explore the more complicated example of Graham Platner.)
Vanity Fair: Over the years, you’ve been so consistent in your message that I bet a lot of us could write a halfway decent Bernie Sanders speech by memory. In Fight Oligarchy, you address a lot of the same concerns you have previously. So what does this book bring to that conversation that’s new or different?
Bernie Sanders: We are living in an unprecedented moment in American history, so it’s not just, “Hey, people are getting much richer—that’s a problem.” You tie that to the fact that you have an authoritarian president, tied to the fact that the oligarchs are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars into AI and robotics—which I think will have a devastating economic impact—tied to the fact that we have this disaster Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Money has always played a role in politics, no doubt, no question. But right now, when you have one guy, the richest guy in the world, spending $270 million to elect Donald Trump as president, are we really living in a democracy?
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and top Democrats refused to answer whether they believe embattled Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out over violent text messages he sent, fantasizing about murdering a Republican opponent.
The Virginia attorney general race, and gubernatorial race along with it, have been rocked by recent revelations that Jones, a former Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates, has made several violent remarks, including saying he wanted to shoot then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert.
Though some Democrats, including Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger, have condemned Jones’ messages, Sanders, perhaps the top progressive voice in America, ignored Fox News Digital’s question about the texts and simply walked away.
Another prominent progressive, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., also ignored Fox News Digital’s questions about Jones, turning her back on the reporter and stepping into an elevator.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., (left) refused to answer whether Virginia AG candidate Jay Jones (right) should drop out over violent messages he sent.(Joe Maher; Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., provided some answers, saying, “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t recall exactly what he said, but at least the reflections I got, I thought it was horrible, I really do.”
“I don’t know the dynamics of the race, as I’m focused right now on the New Jersey governor’s race. So, I can’t say that I’ve done my due diligence to really understand, but what I will say is what I saw was absolutely horrible,” Kim added.
Kim also said, “I hope that in a time right now where there’s so much concern about political violence. We can say that, yes, we need to make sure we’re holding ourselves up to a high standard, especially those in elected office.”
Asked if he could say whether Jones should drop out of the race after those violent texts, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., answered, “I can’t. I’ve got to go.”
Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones was convicted of reckless driving in 2022.( Craig Hudson For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., also had a similar response, saying, “No, I’m getting a briefing right now,” while a staffer said, “You’re more than welcome to reach out to her office though.”
In text messages with another lawmaker, Jones wrote, “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”
Jones wrote in a subsequent text, “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
In another text exchange with a colleague, Jones said he hoped Gilbert’s children would die. He doubled down in a series of messages, saying that such grief might be “a good thing” if it advanced his politics.
Though the text revelations have shocked the public and turned the Virginia elections on their head, many Democrats questioned by Fox News Digital have refused to address the scandal or say whether they believe Jones should be disqualified from the race.
Asked whether Jones should quit his race, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., answered, “I haven’t given it a thought.”
Pressed whether he had read the text messages, which have caused massive political fallout in an already tight Virginia election, Whitehouse said, “I have not.”
Prominent Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., simply responded, “I don’t have time at the moment,” and continued to walk away.
Then House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff does a TV interview at the Capitol on July 26, 2021.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the Democratic senators’ silence “staggering, particularly with the spate of political violence we have seen.”
“In my view, the notion that someone advocating for the murder of children because he disagrees politically with their father is manifestly unsuitable for public office, especially the chief law enforcement officer of Virginia, and I wish there were even one Democrat with the courage to say that publicly,” said Cruz.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
United States Senator Bernie Sanders has never been the one to shy away from calling out Trump and his Republican Party for the occasional stunts they keep on pulling. This time, he is attacking the MAGA advocate for inciting hatred and pitting Americans against each other.
Since Trump’s return to power this year as the President of the United States, he has made several bad decisions, which have come at heavy prices. More recently, Trump has been propagating his hatred towards marginalised communities by partnering with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department (ICE). They have been dragging people out of their homes and workplaces and arresting them to be deported later. On the occasion of showing signs of resistance, the authorities are using brute force and knocking them down, causing emotional and physical pain. On a much deeper level, they are separating individuals from their families and the places they have called their home for several years.
The move has garnered severe negative criticism from people, including celebrities, who have spoken against Trump and his government’s efforts to rid America’s population of immigrants who have been a crucial part of their history. That said, his efforts have also found support among many, especially Republicans and right-leaning people.
As time passes, Trump has been doubling down on his immigrant crackdown by trying to get rid of any opposition. The latest to fall victim to the President’s ill intentions is Portland, Oregon, where he has promised to deploy troops and allow the use of “full force” to deal with the rising protests against ICE and immigration detention centres. As per a BBC article on September 28, 2025, Trump spoke of this in a Truth Social post where he alleged that the step would protect the ICE facilities “from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
After the news became public, Bernie Sanders took to X to share his opinion. He questioned Trump’s move and called the decision anti-American. He also said:
“Mr. President: Read the Constitution. The function of the U.S. military is to protect us from FOREIGN enemies, not Portland, OR. In this country, we have local and state police for law enforcement, not federal troops.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, along with doctors and public-health experts, holds a news conference on vaccine safety and efficacy on Capitol Hill on September 9 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
On Wednesday, Bernie Sanders, the independent senator of Vermont, declared that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza, using the term for the first time in reference to the ongoing war there.
In a statement, Sanders began by saying that Israel had the right to defend itself in the wake of the attack on October 7, 2023, by the terrorist organization Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the capture of hundreds of hostages. But the senator said that over the course of the past two years, Israel has “waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people,” resulting in actions that many international legal experts have categorized as a genocide. Israel is now undertaking an invasion of Gaza City, which has been condemned by many governments — though not the U.S. More than 64,000 Palestinians have died since the war began, the Associated Press reports.
An independent United Nations commission found that Israel was committing a genocide against Palestinians in a report released Tuesday, and Sanders wrote that he agrees with their findings.
“The intent is clear. The conclusion is inescapable: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” he said.
This marks a significant shift for Sanders, who initially refrained from using the term even as he criticized actions taken by the Israeli government and advocated for blocking the sale of arms and weaponry to the country. In an interview with CNN in July, Sanders was asked if he would call the conflict in Gaza a genocide, as some of his congressional colleagues already had. He demurred, noting that it’s a “legal term.”
In his statement, Sanders reiterated his call for the United States to stop arms sales to Israel. “I recognize that many people may disagree with this conclusion. The truth is, whether you call it genocide or ethnic cleansing or mass atrocities or war crimes, the path forward is clear. We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people,” he said.
Sanders was not the only Vermont politician to announce a shift in their thinking on Wednesday. Representative Becca Balint issued her own op-ed, which also argued that Israel is committing a genocide. In the article, Balint invoked her family history, writing that her grandfather was murdered on a death march from Mauthausen prior to the end of World War II and that she holds an “emotional connection” to Israel.
“The trauma of the Holocaust serves as a reminder of the power of speaking out. I feel compelled to speak out because I know there are so many others like me who are horrified by what they see,” she said.
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act to rein in what they call the “obscene salaries of America’s top executives.”
House Resolution H.R. 5298 proposes taxing corporations at a higher rate if they pay their executives more than 50 times what their workers earn. If passed, Tesla would be forced to pay up to $100 billion more in taxes over the next decade if Musk’s massive pay package is approved.
“Working people are sick and tired of corporate greed. CEOs are now making 290 times more than their average worker,” Tlaib said in a statement. “It’s disgraceful that corporations continue to rake in record profits by exploiting the labor of their workers. Every worker deserves a living wage and human dignity on the job. I’m proud to re-introduce the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act with Senator Bernie Sanders to address the massive income and wealth inequality in our nation. It’s time to make the rich pay their fair share.”
The Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act was first introduced by Sen. Sanders in 2019, with different versions re-introduced since then.
“We can no longer tolerate a rigged economy that enables the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, to become the first trillionaire while 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and millions work longer hours for lower wages,” said Senator Sanders. “It is unacceptable that the CEOs of the largest low-wage corporations make more than 630 times what their average workers make. This is not only morally obscene, but also insane economic policy. No society can survive when one man becomes a trillionaire while the working class is unable to afford basic necessities. At a time of record-breaking income and wealth inequality, we must demand that the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America finally pay their fair share of taxes and treat all employees with the respect and dignity they deserve. That’s precisely what this legislation begins to do.”
In a statement, Tlaib and Sanders note that in the 1970s, CEOs of successful firms only made 20-30 times more than their workers.
In 2024, top CEOs made 290 times more than the average pay of their typical workers, including at Walmart ($27.4 million, or 930 times more), JPMorgan Chase ($37.7 million, or 348 times more), Home Depot ($15.6 million, or 443 times more), and Coca-Cola ($28 million, or 1,980 more).
Tlaib and Sanders say the legislation would have raised billions more in taxes if it was in effect in 2024, and if firms raised median worker pay to $60,000 and capped CEO pay at $3 million, they would not owe any additional taxes.
The legislation also calls for the Treasury Department to crack down on corporate tax avoidance schemes.
In some particularly tortured living rooms across America, people are playing a parlor game called Who Is the Next Democratic Leader? Its central premise is that someone will save Democrats specifically and democracy more generally. Maybe that’s true, maybe another Obama will spring from the head of Zeus fully formed and serving in the Senate, or maybe it will be a big messy primary à la 2016 or 2020.
But before asking who the next leader of the party is or will be, it helps to ask who are today’s Democratic kingmakers who can anoint an upstart with legitimacy, who can help shepherd a chaotic Democratic Party apparatus behind a rising star. Some of the faces are familiar, some are newcomers wielding tremendous power.
When I asked Dan Pfeiffer, my favorite of the Pod Save America guys, he essentially rejected the premise of my question. “Given how most Democrats feel about the party these days, endorsements from establishment leaders are likely to be net negatives, and people will be clamoring for the support of party outsiders.”
I heard something similar from Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist who previously served as a deputy governor of Illinois and as a campaign manager for Mike Bloomberg’s 2009 mayoral campaign. “I feel like that world doesn’t exist anymore. Party machines are mainly dead,” Tusk wrote to me. “Endorsements typically don’t matter much because people have so little faith in institutions. The candidate with the most money doesn’t necessarily win so having rich donors isn’t enough. I think now it’s a cult of personality rather than being blessed by a kingmaker.”
These responses capture the wider frustration with the Democratic Party, but I don’t necessarily agree that this sentiment negates the influence that powerful figures could potentially wield.
I got much more fulsome responses when I granted sources anonymity. “I think Nancy Pelosi still plays a big role,” one young congressional staffer told me. “Mike Bloomberg and Bill and Melinda Gates. Donors: George Soros, Laurene Powell Jobs, and Future Forward PAC. Rachel Maddow.” She added that Obama is still very much a kingmaker in the party, and that his endorsement was helpful to Kamala Harris’s campaign. Similarly, a famous writer told me that “despite being old and tired, you gotta say that [Chuck] Schumer and [Hakeem] Jeffries are still kingmakers—helps to have their support.”
It also seems inevitable that the next Obama will almost certainly need the support of a broad podcast coalition. In the 2024 election, Kamala Harris’s campaign didn’t end up doing Joe Rogan’s show. “There was a backlash with some of our progressive staff that didn’t want her to be on it, and how there would be a backlash,” campaign adviser Jennifer Palmieri said, according to the reporting by the Financial Times. But next time, the young congressional staffer told me, things will be different. “In an upcoming election, a Joe Rogan endorsement could mean almost as much as an Obama endorsement.”
As Zohran Mamdani greeted supporters following his upset victory over Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary in June, the chants erupting around him weren’t about pragmatism or compromise—they were about housing, justice and revenge against a system he said had failed ordinary people.
“This wasn’t just a primary,” Mamdani told the crowd. “This was a referendum on a crumbling status quo.”
The 33-year-old democratic socialist’s victory wasn’t just a local surprise; it symbolizes a broader political shift. Across the nation, more voters—urban and rural, working-class and professional—are rejecting technocratic centrism in favor of leaders who promise to fight, not finesse.
For decades, “moderation” in U.S. politics was synonymous with stability. The Reagan era’s embrace of supply-side economics in the 1980s set a conservative template; the Clinton years extended it through “Third Way” centrism—balanced budgets, free trade, welfare reform. The pitch: a steady hand at the wheel.
Newsweek Illustration/Getty Images
But the underlying economy didn’t support that narrative for long. From 1980 to 2020, the top 1 percent went from controlling 25 percent of national wealth to nearly 40 percent, according to Federal Reserve data. Over the same period, wage growth for middle- and lower-income workers stagnated.
Housing costs also jumped 300 percent in urban areas, far outpacing income. By 2024, Gallup reported just 34 percent of Americans identified as moderate—down from over 40 percent in the early 1990s—while self-identified conservatives and liberals reached historic highs.
“Moderation meant compromise—not excitement. People lost faith that those deals ever made a difference at their own dining table,” Mike Madrid, a political consultant and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, told Newsweek. “When rent and tuition cost more than your paycheck, a handshake won’t help.”
As the 2024 election made clear, politics is now filtered through the realities of inflation and affordability. Inflation peaked above 9 percent in 2022 and remains stubbornly elevated; nearly 40 percent of Americans say the cost of groceries is their biggest concern, a July AP-NORC poll found.
Mamdani’s win in New York was the clearest sign of this mood on the left: a candidate who spoke bluntly about rent, wages and fairness defeating a seasoned moderate with a long career in public service, even if it ended in disgrace. Democrats have often hesitated to fully embrace that message, but Republicans have done the opposite with Donald Trump—rallying quickly and decisively around a single figure who steadily pushed moderates out of his party.
MAGA: The First Rebellion
The first real test of this shift came from the right. Donald Trump’s rise in 2016 marked a direct challenge to Republican orthodoxy, promising to fight for those left behind by globalization while mocking the party’s traditional leadership.
By 2025, the transformation was complete. A mid-2025 Gallup survey found that 77 percent of Republicans identified as conservative, while moderates dropped to a historic low of 18 percent. And even as the president’s overall popularity has slipped in his second term, more than 85 percent of Republicans still approve of Trump’s leadership.
Mitt Romney and John McCain talk on Romney’s campaign bus on January 4, 2012. Mitt Romney and John McCain talk on Romney’s campaign bus on January 4, 2012. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
“Republicans have near unanimity in supporting Donald Trump, and he is exhibiting strong leadership,” Republican strategist Matt Klink told Newsweek. “Contrast this sharply with Mitt Romney‘s loss in the 2012 presidential election and the Republican Party being rudderless.”
It was a hostile takeover of a party that once valued calm stewardship and corporate-friendly conservatism. Mitt Romney was sidelined. John McCain fought Trump until his death in 2018. George W. Bush‘s brand of “compassionate conservatism” was shelved before he even left office. Liz Cheney was cast out of House leadership and lost her Wyoming seat after defying Trump on January 6. Paul Ryan walked away from Congress as Trump’s grip tightened. Marco Rubio fell in line and now serves as his secretary of state. One by one, the party’s old guard was replaced, leaving the GOP remade in Trump’s image.
But Trump’s consolidation of the GOP is only half the story. His political rise has also reordered the map of American politics in ways that continue to haunt Democrats. According to a New York Times analysis, Trump improved Republican margins in nearly half of U.S. counties across his three presidential campaigns—1,433 in all—while Democrats gained ground in just 57.
The Democrats’ Mamdani Dilemma
Mamdani’s primary upset in New York reflects a similar shift on the left. His platform—rent freezes, city-owned grocer stores, free bus service, steep taxes on the wealthy—was more blueprint than compromise. His backers are not looking for a manager; they want a revolution.
And the numbers show their enthusiasm. In the June primary, Mamdani defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo by 12 percentage points, earning 56.4 percent of the final round of ranked-choice votes to Cuomo’s 43.6 percent—a decisive victory for an underdog few expected to win.
But the Democratic establishment has kept him at arm’s length, despite polls showing Mamdani likely to win the general election in November. Weeks after his win, half of the state’s top Democrats still hadn’t endorsed him. Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have all stayed silent—often mumbling through media appearances when pressed on the subject.
At “Brooklyn Against Trump” Event, Zohran Mamdani and Brooklyn Leaders Call Out Trump and Cuomo as Architects of Housing CrisisBrooklyn Against Trump At “Brooklyn Against Trump” Event, Zohran Mamdani and Brooklyn Leaders Call Out Trump and Cuomo as Architects of Housing CrisisBrooklyn Against Trump Zohran Mamdani for NYC/YouTube
“It is pathetic,” said former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau during a recent episode of Pod Save America, the popular liberal podcast. “Donald Trump’s going to try to get Eric Adams out of the race so that he can help Andrew Cuomo. Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have not yet endorsed the candidate who won the Democratic primary in New York City—the choice of Democratic voters,” he added.
For some on the left, dissatisfaction with Democratic leadership has reignited a longstanding debate about the party’s future. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has even suggested that progressives consider running as independents rather than as Democrats.
“If there’s any hope for the Democratic Party, it is that they’re going to have to reach out—open the doors and let working-class people in,” Sanders said during his “Stopping Oligarchy” tour, a five-city rally alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aimed at mobilizing resistance to Trump, Elon Musk, and what they describe as a billionaire-led assault on American government.
“If not, people will be running as independents, I think, all over this country.”
“We’re seeing Democrats in New York who want to flip the tables over, much like Republicans did in their Tea Party moment,” Madrid, the political analyst, told Newsweek. “Voters seem to be asking their politicians to take a stand and adopt clear positions, and I think one of the reasons the Democratic campaign lost last year was because the positions weren’t clear enough.”
Can the Center Hold?
Not all centrists are fading. But they no longer sell themselves. Survival now depends less on policy and more on posture. Candidates who look like fighters—even if their actual politics are relatively moderate—are the ones breaking through.
In Arizona, Senator Ruben Gallego offered a glimpse of what that looks like. Running in a state Donald Trump carried, Gallego didn’t try to tiptoe around culture wars or triangulate. He leaned into toughness, telling voters he would fight for wages, affordability, and border security while refusing to get pulled into debates over “masculinity” that have roiled both parties.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., arrives for a vote in the Capitol on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., arrives for a vote in the Capitol on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
“A lot of times we forget that we still need men to vote for us. That’s how we still win elections. But we don’t really talk about making the lives of men better, working to make sure that they have wages so they can support their families,” Gallego said in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times Magazine.
“He’s not playing both sides,” Madrid told Newsweek. “He’s saying: I’ll go fight and I’ll come home with results. People see that. They want that posture. His win showed that even in red states, a Democrat could compete if they looked like someone ready to brawl for ordinary people.”
The same instinct is showing up elsewhere. California Governor Gavin Newsom, once accused of hedging or “fence sitting,” on divisive issues, has adopted a more aggressive style in his battles with Trump, boosting his standing in Democratic primaries. Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders still draw crowds because they fight visibly.
“The lesson for Democrats is to stop talking only to their base,” Madrid said. “You can have politicians in the very center of the party like Gallego or on the far left like Mamdani, and both are succeeding right now.”
Klink, the veteran GOP strategist, also warned that moderation without fire simply doesn’t cut through anymore. “Generally, Democrats fare better when they nominate a moderate candidate,” he said. “But the base decides the pace. Moderates decide the margin. Without base energy—without fight and authenticity—you’re invisible.”
While Democrats are still grappling with whether to embrace the party’s more radical flank or hold to the center, the picture inside the GOP is far clearer. Trump has already answered the question for Republicans: the path to power runs through him. Where Democrats debate strategy and identity, Republicans measure their future in degrees of loyalty to the president.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (L) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) (R) take an elevator just off the Senate floor after the Senate stayed in session throughout the night at the U.S. Capitol Building on July… Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (L) and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) (R) take an elevator just off the Senate floor after the Senate stayed in session throughout the night at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 1, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
A CBS News/YouGov survey found that 65 percent of Republican voters say loyalty to Trump is important, with more than a third calling it “very important.” In practice, that has meant dissenters often retreat when it matters. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has voiced concerns about Trump’s hold on the party but still voted for his signature “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia briefly criticized the package, then fell back in line to support it.
After months of friction with the White House, Senator Thom Tillis and Representative Don Bacon announced their retirements rather than continue testing their luck in a party where deviation is punished and loyalty is prized. In today’s Trumpist party, such departures have become increasingly rare — simply because so few dissenters remain.
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont says if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t step down as Health and Human Services secretary in President Donald Trump’s administration, Americans will need to speak out.
“We’ve got to rally the American people. This is a huge issue,” Sanders told Fox News Digital on Monday.
Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said, “I’m not a scientist, I’m not a doctor, but I do talk to scientists, and I do talk to doctors, and the evidence is overwhelming. It’s not contestable. Vaccines work. They save millions and millions of lives.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is calling on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to resign. Kennedy is seen at an event on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Monday, August 4, 2025.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
And the progressive champion and 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential nomination runner-up warned that “if Kennedy and his friends are able to make people think that vaccines are not safe, it will be a real public health crisis for America.”
Sanders is among a growing list of politicians and officials who warn that Kennedy, the longtime environmental activist and vaccine skeptic who Trump picked late last year as his health secretary in his second administration, is jeopardizing the health of Americans with his controversial moves.
“Mr Kennedy and the rest of the Trump administration tell us, over and over, that they want to Make America Healthy Again. That’s a great slogan. I agree with it. The problem is that since coming into office, President Trump and Mr Kennedy have done exactly the opposite,” Sanders wrote this past weekend in an opinion piece in the New York Times.
And Sanders said that “despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community, Secretary Kennedy has continued his longstanding crusade against vaccines and his advocacy of conspiracy theories that have been rejected repeatedly by scientific experts.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, is calling on Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign.(Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Mikala Compton/The Austin American-Statesman)
Sanders’ call for Kennedy to resign came after last week’s firing of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, less than a month after she was confirmed. The firing of Monarez came after she refused Kennedy’s directives to adopt new limitations on the availability of some vaccines, including approvals for COVID-19 vaccines.
Four other top CDC officials resigned in protest hours later, accusing the Trump administration and Kennedy of weaponizing public health.
Sanders, who was interviewed Monday after headlining the New Hampshire AFL-CIO’s annual Labor Day breakfast, charged in his statement over the weekend that Kennedy “has absurdly claimed that ‘there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective’.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont headlines the New Hampshire AFL-CIO’s annual Labor Day breakfast, on Sept. 1, 2025 in Manchester. N.H.(Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)
“Who supports Secretary Kennedy’s views?” Sanders asked. “Not credible scientists and doctors. One of his leading ‘experts’ that he cites to back up his bogus claims on autism and vaccines had his medical license revoked and his study retracted from the medical journal that published it.”
The incident received rare bipartisan pushback by some members of Congress.
But the White House defended the firing of Monarez, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters on Thursday that the president has the “authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.”
“The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases, investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats,” Leavitt argued.
Fox News Bonny Chu and Landon Mion contributed to this story
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.”
The Microsoft co-founder has long been one of the world’s wealthiest people. Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag
Bernie Sanders, the famously anti-billionaire senator of Vermont, and Bill Gates, the world’s seventh wealthiest person with an estimated net worth of $138.5 billion, make an unlikely pairing—especially when it comes to debating income inequality. Despite their differences, the duo sat down together to discuss wealth and taxation for the latest episode of Gates’ new Netflix series What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates.
“Several of my friends raised an eyebrow when I told them I was going to meet with him,” said Gates in a blog post on Wednesday (Sept. 18) discussing his meeting with Sanders and the show, which aired the same day. “After all, Sen. Sanders is the first U.S. Senator in history to go on record saying that billionaires shouldn’t exist,” he added.
Sanders maintained this stance during their discussion, calling the existence of ultra-wealthy individuals “unacceptable” and “obscene.” Gates, meanwhile, suggested that billionaires should voluntarily donate their wealth but disagreed on outlawing them altogether. “But again, I’m biased,” conceded the Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder. Gates, who has given away some $77.6 billion via the Gates Foundation, has long been a champion for billionaire philanthropy and in 2010 helped create the Giving Pledge, a campaign that urges the ultra-wealthy to donate the majority of their wealth.
How much should the ultra-rich be taxed?
Despite their different stances on banning billionaires, both Gates and Sanders are advocates for higher taxes on the rich. “I’m amazed that the rich aren’t taxed substantially more than they are,” said Gates during the episode. “If you raise taxes a fair bit, there should be enough to somewhat raise the social safety net, which is not as well-funded as I would make it,” he added. The centibillionaire said his ideal tax system would leave the wealthy with a third of their current fortunes, which would give Gates around $46 billion given his current fortune. Sanders, meanwhile, said he “would go a lot further.”
Gates’ comments echo statements he made earlier this month in an interview with The Independent, where he voiced his desire for more progressive tax policies. “If I designed the tax system, I would be tens of billions of dollars poorer than I am,” he told the outlet.
In a 2019 blog post, Gates suggested increasing taxes on large investments by the wealthy and urged the U.S. government to raise the capital gains tax to equal taxes on labor. While those relying on salary and hourly work are taxed at a maximum of 37 percent, “the wealthiest generally only get a tiny percentage of their income from a salary; most of it comes from profits on investments, such as stock or real estate, taxed at 20 percent if they’re held for more than a year,” he said.
During his discussion with Gates, Sanders pointed to a similar idea proposed by Warren Buffett in 2011 when he criticized the fact that he was taxed less than his employees. “That is not what the American people want to see,” said the senator.
Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase (JPM)’s Jamie Dimon—estimated to be worth $2.3 billion—said that higher taxes on the rich would help the nation bring its debt down while increasing economic spending and growth. “You would maybe just raise taxes a bit, like the Warren Buffett-type of rule,” Dimon told PBS, referring to a tax rule borne out of Buffett’s comments that dictates no households earning more than $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families.
WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.; Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R-Ark.
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NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.; Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D.
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CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C.; Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Jim Himes, D-Conn.
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CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
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“Fox News Sunday” — Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
MINNEAPOLIS — Senator Bernie Sanders is traveling the country campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris and progressive candidates.
Friday night, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke to an overflow crowd at Minnesota State University Mankato. Saturday Morning, Sanders was at rally for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in Minneapolis.
“I think it’s going to be a tough race, I think it’s going to be close but I think she has an excellent chance to win,” said Sanders.
Sanders is also campaigning for progressive candidates around the country — including Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
“She is not only someone who has and will take on enormously powerful special interests, she is one of the toughest people I know.”
Omar faces a rematch of the 2022 August primary which she almost lost to former Minneapolis City Council Member, Don Samuels. This year, it’s an Omar Samuels rematch. Omar says that last time she underestimated Samuels and that she is not doing that this year.
“We are organizing to make sure that we have victory on the August 13, but not just a victory but that we have a win with a mandate,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Esme Murphy, a reporter and Sunday morning anchor for WCCO-TV, has been a member of the WCCO-TV staff since December 1990. She is also a weekend talk show host on WCCO Radio. Born and raised in New York City, Esme ventured into reporting after graduating from Harvard University.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon’s popular Prime Day sales event has been “a major cause of injuries” for warehouse workers who pick and pack customer orders at the e-commerce giant’s facilities across the United States, according to a report released Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The report, which draws information from a year-long Senate committee investigation into Amazon’s safety practices and relied on internal company data from 2019 and 2020, said peak shopping times – including the holiday shopping period – resulted in the “highest weekly injury rates” for warehouse workers.
The preliminary report from Sanders’ office was also based on interviews with more than 100 current and former Amazon employees. This year’s two-day Prime Day event started Tuesday.
In a statement, Sanders said the “incredibly dangerous working conditions at Amazon” highlighted in the report are a “perfect example of the type of corporate greed that the American people are sick and tired of.”
“Despite making $36 billion in profits last year and providing its CEO with over $275 million in compensation over the past three years, Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and with complete contempt for their safety and well-being,” said the Vermont independent, who has been critical of Amazon and supports worker efforts to unionize at the company. “That is unacceptable, and that has got to change.”
Labor unions and safety experts have long criticized Amazon, alleging the company’s focus on speed and fast deliveries puts workers in danger. In recent years, some states have passed laws aimed at Amazon to curb the use of warehouse productivity quotas, though the company claims it doesn’t employ them.
According to the Senate report, 45 out of 100 warehouse at Amazon received injuries during the 2019 Prime Day event. The number included minor injuries the company was not required to disclose to the federal government, such as bruises and superficial cuts, but also serious ones such as concussions that should have been reported, it said.
Amazon disputed the finding.
“The claims that we systemically underreport injuries, and that our actual injury rates are higher than publicly reported, are false,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a prepared statement. “We’re required to report every injury that needs more than basic first aid, and that’s what we do.”
While Amazon “might make an occasional clerical error,” a six-month federal investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found “no intentional, willful, or systemic errors” in the company’s reporting, Nantel said.
The report also alleged that Amazon had a practice of failing to refer workers for outside medical care because doing so could affect whether an injury should be considered “recordable” and referred to OSHA. Even when injuries were serious and might have required extra medical attention, workers often received first aid before being sent back to work instead of to a doctor, it said.
Amazon has acknowledged in the past that its warehouse injury rates had been higher compared to its peers. Federal safety investigators levied fines against the company in recent years following inspections at some of its warehouses. Some of the inspections arose from referrals made to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is also investigating worker safety at the company through its civil division.
Last month, California fined Amazon a total of $5.9 million, accusing the company of violating the state’s Warehouse Quota Law at two facilities.
A spokesperson for Sanders’ office said the committee relied on 2019 and 2020 workplace injury rate data because that’s what Amazon provided for the inquiry.
However, Amazon spokesperson Nantel said that the Senate review ignored the progress the company has made since 2019 in reducing its rate of recordable incidents – those which require more care than basic first aid – by 28%. The company also has improved the rate of significant injuries that require an employee to miss at least a day of work by 75%, she said.
“We’ve cooperated throughout this investigation, including providing thousands of pages of information and documents,” Nantel said. “But unfortunately, this report (which was not shared with us before publishing) ignores our progress and paints a one-sided, false narrative using only a fraction of the information we’ve provided. It draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unverified anecdotes, and it misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors and faulty analysis.”
The report also says Amazon failed to adequately staff its warehouses during peak shopping times, which the company disputed. Amazon said in March that it allocated over $750 million to safety efforts for this year.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20th, 1942.
And Joe Biden is old. He’s so old that “Robinette” probably seemed like a reasonable thing to put in the middle of your kid’s name back when he was born.
The fact that our two options in the 2024 election to lead us are men who are both more than 35 years older—and about 40% whiter—than the average American, is a damning indictment of our political system. But with both men widely accused by their critics of losing a step and declining into senility, should age be a defining issue in this election? Is Joe Biden, 77, so much older than Donald Trump, 74, that he should be disqualified?
The question of age — old age, to be precise – is garnering a lot of attention lately. And for good reason: the fate of the Western world very possibly hinges on it.
This autumn, Americans will most likely have to choose between two old white men for President of the United States. One is in his early 80s. The other is in his late 70s. Both are showing signs of physical and mental aging. Both claim to be in great shape and ready for the Herculean demands required of the most powerful leader in the world. Both claim the other isn’t.
Whether you think this is a clash of the Titans or merely a pillow fight in a senior care facility, there’s no denying that our nation’s oldsters have accomplished some amazing things. Here are only a few of the performers, politicians, athletes, tycoons, and scientists who saw no reason to rest on their laurels. They can inspire us all.
Betty White – Won a Grammy at 90
Betty White had been a working actor since the 1940s, but she didn’t win her first Emmy until 1975 for her role as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Ten years later she was starring in the sitcom classic The Golden Girls. Eighteen years after that she was appearing in Hot in Cleveland. When she was a kid of 90, she was honored at the 54th annual Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Album for the narration of her audiobook If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t).
Tao Porchon-Lynch – Taught yoga at 101
Of French and Indian descent author and yoga teacher Porchon-Lynch was also a model, an actor, a cabaret performer mentored by Sir Noel Coward, a ballroom dancer, a social activist, Hollywood actress, wine expert, and magazine publisher. At 93 she was named the world’s oldest yoga teacher by the Guinness Book of World Records. She was also one of the best.
It’s a life of such variety and depth it could only be true. You wouldn’t believe it in a novel!
John B. Goodenough – Won a Nobel Prize at 97
Chemist and Materials scientist John B. Goodenough is noted for his contributions to the development of Random Access Memory in computing and Lithium-Ion battery technology. In 2019 the Nobel Prize committee presented him with the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Goodenough was still working at the age of 98, developing new battery technology at the University of Texas. When his Nobel prize was announced, his advice to young scientists was “don’t retire too early.” Good advice whether you’re in the laboratory or not.
Christopher Plummer – Won an Academy Award at 82
Beginners exemplified how much living can be done later in life. Christopher Plummer plays Hal Fields, a gay man who lived his life in the closet until coming out after the death of his wife.
Fields discovers new love and how to live his authentic self in his 80s.
At 82, Plummer was awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – and became the oldest person to ever win the award. In 2018, at 88, he became the oldest person to be nominated for the same award for his role in All the Money in the World.
He ran a distance famous for killing an ancient Greek messenger after surviving the Great Depression, World War II, and 24 James Bond movies. He ran 26 nine-minute miles in a row…again, after also traveling around the sun 85 times. Ed Whitlock passed the next year, probably moments after deciding he was finally ready to retire from running.
In a piece about Whitlock’s career as an older athlete, the Services for Runners website referred to “the prime of the ancient marathoner.” A witty description of an indomitable figure.
Jimmy Carter – Building Houses at 95
Several years ago former president Jimmy Carter fell in his home, sustaining a black eye and a cut that required 14 stitches. Days later, he returned to the construction site where he was building homes for those in need. He was 95 years old at the time.
It’s been said that Carter accomplished more out of office than he did as the main resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That may or may not be accurate, but Carter’s dedication to Habitat for Humanity, his modesty and concern for his fellow citizens stands in stark contrast to the criminal buffoons who view the Presidency as nothing but a giant ATM card. According to his grandson, Carter is nearing the end of his life. Plains, Georgia’s most famous son has proven how much difference one person can make.
Bernie Sanders – Transformed American Politics at 78
For fans of Bernie Sanders, the coalescing of the entire Democratic party around moderate candidate Joe Biden in March of 2020, just when it seemed like Sanders was about to secure frontrunner position, was heartbreaking.
Consolation can be found in Sanders’ effect on the nation’s progressive politics. He’s been a consistent voice for Medicare for All, a livable minimum wage, cannabis decriminalization, and bold climate legislation. It’s clear he’ll keep fighting the good fight until his last breath. He is anything but shy – and Democrats could use a dose of his feisty approach to politics.
Aida Germanque – Ran in Olympic Torch Relay at 106
In 2016, Aida Germanque participated in the Olympic torch relay in Brazil in the lead-up to the 2016 Olympic games in Rio. At 106 years old, Germanque was the oldest person to ever take part in the ceremony. She reportedly broke the record for oldest skydiver at 103.
But while it’s true that Germanque didn’t exactly sprint through her portion of the relay, the significance of her achievement is in the symbolism of the relay. It’s about passing the torch to the next runner. And as Joe Biden has already hinted, that’s what he intends to do with the presidency—serving one term, before passing it to the next generation of Democratic politician, whether that’s Kamala Harris or (fingers crossed) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who will be eligible to run for president in 2024.
It should be clear by now that age needn’t be an impediment to a healthy and productive life. How this plays out in November is something we’ll all be watching closely. Age will certainly be a factor in the presidential race. It shouldn’t automatically disqualify a candidate for office. Leave that to other, far less savory things like inciting violence, threatening to open concentration camps, and “joking” about running for a third term.
The moral of the story is a simple one.
Lay off the Big Macs. Help others. You’ll live longer and enjoy it more!
So, clearly, being 77 or 81 does not mean you’re done doing amazing things. That said, there is such a thing as “biological age.” If a person were to work out five times a week —as opposed to living off Big Macs and (allegedly) amphetamines and only working up a sweat by ranting from the podium and on Twitter — that person could be much “younger” than someone born a few years after them.
