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For Immediate Release
November, 11 2020, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Email:,press@demandprogress.org
50+ Organizations Demand President-Elect Biden and Senate Democrats Reject Corporate Nominees for Cabinet Positions
Today, Demand Progress and the Revolving Door Project - joined by more than fifty prominent progressive and good government organizations - called on President-elect Joe Biden as well as Democratic Senators and Senators-elect to reject corporate executives, lobbyists, and prominent corporate consultants for cabinet positions.
WASHINGTON
Today, Demand Progress and the Revolving Door Project - joined by more than fifty prominent progressive and good government organizations - called on President-elect Joe Biden as well as Democratic Senators and Senators-elect to reject corporate executives, lobbyists, and prominent corporate consultants for cabinet positions. The letters, which come just days after Biden announced a list of transition advisors riddled with corporate lobbyists and special interest executives, call on Biden and Senate Democrats to align with the vast majority of Americans and commit to elevating individuals with unquestionable track records prioritizing everyday Americans and improving lives.
David Segal, Executive Director of Demand Progress said: "The best way to bring the country together and ensure that a government is put in place that's capable of meeting the extraordinary needs of this moment is to build an administration staffed with people who care about the public interest and the general welfare - and not with corporate elites and lobbyists who are going to be doing the bidding of the major corporations they came."
Jeff Hauser, Executive Director of the Revolving Door Project said: "We're urging President-elect Biden to not only embrace a populist economic message, but embody it by deploying all the tools of the executive branch to deliver for regular people. To make it happen, Biden will need to appoint high-energy, creative officials who wake up every morning determined to do all they can to advance the public interest, not those who remain beholden to corporations and private profit."
The letters also urge these elected officials to use the tools necessary to achieve these objectives - such as the Vacancy Act and recess appointments - given the almost-certain obstructionism by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans.
- The letter to President-Elect Joe Biden can be found in full here.
- The letter to Democratic Senators and Senators-Elect can be found in full here.
The full text of the letter to President-Elect Biden follows:
Dear President-elect Biden:
After four years of Donald Trump's unfettered governance in service of powerful corporations -- and at the expense of everyday Americans -- you are in the process of organizing a new administration.
We urge you to build out an administration that is structured so as to be able to meet the historic needs of this moment -- and to uphold the highest values of the Democratic Party by operating in service of the wellbeing of the general public.
In particular, we urge you to decline to nominate or hire corporate executives, lobbyists, and prominent corporate consultants to serve in high office. Moreover, we urge you to join our organizations in seeking to elevate to such office people who have proven track records of prioritizing the general welfare. We also believe that representation of the broad diversity of our country is imperative -- but diversity alone is not enough: All personnel must have demonstrated that they prioritize the needs of communities of color and service in the public interest. If necessary, we urge you to accomplish this by using tools like the Vacancy Act and recess appointments to overcome any obstruction by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans.
Executive branch personnel have sweeping authority over interpreting and enforcing the law. They also will play key roles in helping to develop and implement a legislative agenda. While the Trump administration has embodied extremes of self-dealing, incompetence, and subservience to corporations, sadly the revolving door between big corporations and government pre-dated the Trump administration. The revolving door has generated far too many conflicts of interest and policy outcomes diverging from the public interest under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
As several members of the House of Representatives wrote to the Senate a few weeks ago, "If we are to maintain the trust of the American people, neither party can credibly accuse the other of putting the demands of allied special interests before the public good and then do the same thing when elected to govern."
Moreover, the House members rightly noted that Democrats opposed numerous Trump appointees on the ground that their histories of work prioritizing the wants of corporations and drives towards personal enrichment likely put them at odds with the interests of the American people. To cite just a few examples, Democrats appealed to such concerns as they opposed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Ensuring governance that prioritizes the public interest is always imperative -- but this is especially evident as our country faces a multilayered crisis, borne of the pandemic and the attendant economic collapse, which demands immediate and forceful action. Moreover, if your administration cares to remedy longstanding ills -- like corporate concentration and structural economic inequities, systemic racism, the climate crisis, endless wars, and more -- it must be run by people who care foremost about working in service of the general welfare.
The revolving door limits the trust Americans have in government and has time and again led to bad policy outcomes. We urge you to take advantage of this historic and unique moment in American history to shut the revolving door closed and rebuild that trust: The nation is depending on you to ensure the executive branch is led by the right people for this critical moment.
Many of the organizations that have signed this letter have also written to Senator Schumer and to Democratic senators and senators-elect to urge them to wield their power in the advice-and-consent process towards the ends described herein.
Sincerely,
Action Center on Race and the Economy
ALIGN : The Alliance for a Greater New York Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
American Economic Liberties Project
Americans for Financial Reform
Athena Coalition
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Disability Rights
Center for Popular Democracy
Children's Haven:A Place of Healing & Hope, Inc.
The Climate Mobilization
Consumer Action
Courage California
Daily Kos
Demand Justice
Demand Progress
Democracy For America
Demos
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Faithful America
Food & Water Action
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Groundwork Collaborative
Indivisible
Jobs with Justice
Just Foreign Policy
Liberation in a Generation
MoveOn
MPower Change
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights New York Communities For Change
Oil Change U.S.
Open Markets Institute
Open MIC (Open Media & Information Companies Initiative) Organic Consumers Association
Our Revolution
Partnership for Working Families
People's Parity Project
Presente.org
Progress America
Public Citizen
Revolving Door Project
RootsAction.org
Social Security Works
Strong Economy For All Coalition
SumOfUs
Sunrise Movement
Take on Wall Street
Ultraviolet
Voices for Progress
Win Without War
Working Families Party
X-Lab
The full text of the letter to Democratic Senators and Senators-elect follows:
Dear Democratic Senators and Senators-elect:
After four years of Donald Trump's unfettered governance in service of powerful corporations -- and at the expense of everyday Americans -- a new administration is beginning to take shape. You will of course play a critical part in this, as you undertake the solemn advice and consent responsibilities delegated to you by the Constitution.
We urge you to wield your considerable power in this process to ensure that the incoming Biden Administration is structured so as to be able to meet the historic needs of this moment -- and to uphold the highest values of the Democratic Party by operating in service of the wellbeing of the general public.
In particular, we urge you to decline to confirm -- and to urge President-Elect Biden not to nominate -- corporate executives, lobbyists, and prominent corporate consultants to high office. Moreover, we urge you to join our organizations in seeking to elevate to such office people who have proven track records of prioritizing the general welfare. We also believe representation of the broad diversity of our country is imperative -- but diversity alone is not enough: All personnel must have demonstrated that they prioritize the needs of communities of color and service in the public interest. If necessary, we ask you to urge Biden to use tools like the Vacancy Act and recess appointments to overcome any obstruction by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans.
Executive branch personnel have sweeping authority over interpreting and enforcing the law. They also will play key roles in helping to develop and implement Congress's legislative agenda. While the Trump administration has embodied extremes of self-dealing, incompetence, and subservience to corporations, sadly the revolving door between big corporations and government pre-dated the Trump administration. The revolving door has generated far too many conflicts of interest and policy outcomes diverging from the public interest under both Republican and Democratic presidents.
As several members of the House of Representatives wrote to you a few weeks ago, "If we are to maintain the trust of the American people, neither party can credibly accuse the other of putting the demands of allied special interests before the public good and then do the same thing when elected to govern."
Moreover, the House members rightly noted that Senator Schumer (alongside the bulk of the Senate Democratic Caucus), opposed numerous Trump appointees on the ground that their histories of work prioritizing the wants of corporations and drives towards personal enrichment likely put them at odds with the interests of the American people. To cite just a few examples, Democrats appealed to such concerns as they opposed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Ensuring governance that prioritizes the public interest is always imperative -- but this is especially evident as our country faces a multilayered crisis, borne of the pandemic and the attendant economic collapse, which demands immediate and forceful action. Moreover, if the Biden administration cares to remedy longstanding and intertwining ills -- like corporate concentration and structural economic inequities, systemic racism, the climate crisis, endless wars, and more -- it must be run by people who care foremost about working in service of the general welfare.
The revolving door limits the trust Americans have in government and has time and again led to bad policy outcomes. We urge you to use your voices and your votes to take advantage of this historic and unique moment in American history to shut the revolving door closed and rebuild that trust. Your constituents are depending on you to fulfill your constitutional obligations to ensure the executive branch is led by the right people for this critical moment.
Many of the organizations that have signed this letter have also written to President-Elect Biden to urge him to nominate and hire people in accord with the principles articulated herein.
Sincerely,
Action Center on Race and the Economy
ALIGN : The Alliance for a Greater New York
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
American Economic Liberties Project
Americans for Financial Reform
Athena Coalition
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Disability Rights
Center for Popular Democracy
Children's Haven:A Place of Healing & Hope, Inc.
The Climate Mobilization
Consumer Action
Courage California
Daily Kos
Demand Justice
Demand Progress
Democracy For America
Demos
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Faithful America
Food & Water Action
Friends of the Earth U.S.
Groundwork Collaborative
Indivisible
Jobs with Justice
Just Foreign Policy
Liberation in a Generation
MPower Change
National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
New York Communities For Change
Oil Change U.S.
Open Markets Institute
Open MIC (Open Media & Information Companies Initiative)
Organic Consumers Association
Our Revolution
Partnership for Working Families
People's Parity Project
Presente.org
Progress America
Public Citizen
Revolving Door Project
RootsAction.org
Social Security Works
Strong Economy For All Coalition
SumOfUs
Sunrise Movement
Take on Wall Street
Ultraviolet
Voices for Progress
Win Without War
Working Families Party
X-Lab
Demand Progress amplifies the voice of the people -- and wields it to make government accountable and contest concentrated corporate power. Our mission is to protect the democratic character of the internet -- and wield it to contest concentrated corporate power and hold government accountable.
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"Like any country, Cuba has the right to defend itself against external aggression," said the Cuban embassy. "It is called self-defense, and it is protected by International Law and the UN Charter."
May 17, 2026
Cuban officials said the Trump administration is making "increasingly implausible accusations" against the country as it pushes to justify, "without any excuse, a military attack against Cuba," after an unnamed White House official told the news outlet Axios that the Cubans have been "discussing plans" to launch drones against the US.
"Cuba is the country under attack," said the Cuban embassy in a statement, months into a ramped-up oil blockade by the US that has left the island's electric grid in a "critical state" and forced frequent rolling blackouts as well as causing a healthcare crisis, with tens of thousands of people waiting for surgeries.
But in Axios' article, the Trump administration official took pains to push the notion that the US, with its nearly $1 trillion-per-year military, could face attacks from the tiny Caribbean nation 90 miles south of Florida because officials there have been preparing defensive capabilities.
Axios reported that, according to classified intelligence it viewed, Cuba has acquired more than 300 drones and has been considering plans to attack the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, various US military vessels, and Key West, Florida.
The country has been acquiring drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and has sought more aid from Russia in recent months, according to the report. Intelligence intercepts have also shown Cuba is "trying to learn about how Iran has resisted us," the official said, referring to Iran's use of unmanned aircraft, its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and its attacks on US military outposts in the Middle East in response to the US-Israel war on the country that began in February.
The Cuban embassy further responded with a reminder that "like any country, Cuba has the right to defend itself against external aggression."
"Those from the US who seek the submission and, in fact, the destruction of the Cuban nation through military aggression and war, do not waste a single moment fabricating pretexts, creating and spreading falsehoods, and distorting as extraordinary the logical preparation required to face a potential aggression," said the embassy.
Journalist José Luis Granados Ceja, who is based in Mexico City and covers Latin America for Drop Site News, emphasized that "Cuba has the right to self-defense."
"It would be arguably be wise for Cuba to incorporate a tool that has proven to be an extraordinary effective weapon and a powerful tool of dissuasion as part of its self-defense strategy," said Granados Ceja.
Axios said the classified intelligence "could become a pretext for US military action" that President Donald Trump has expressed an interest in taking numerous times, before acknowledging toward the end of the article that "US officials don't believe Cuba is an imminent threat, or actively planning to attack American interests."
Rather, the intelligence showed that Cuban officials "have been discussing drone warfare plans in case hostilities erupt as relations with the US continue to deteriorate"—suggesting they could use drones in self-defense if attacked by the US.
The reporting carried echoes of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's rationale for attacking Iran in February. He stunned legal experts days after the war began by explaining that the US had decided to wage war on the Middle Eastern country because it feared Iran would retaliate after Israel began attacking it.
"The imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us," Rubio said.
The claim that Cuba's reported preparations make the island a threat to US security "is a lie—with purpose," said David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International.
"Marco Rubio and his stenographers at Axios are manufacturing consent for the invasion of Cuba," said Adler. "To fall for this flimsy propaganda is to fail the most basic test of civic literacy. And the stakes are millions of Cuban lives off our coast."
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has long sought regime change in the socialist country.
Axios' reporting came days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba to pressure officials into complying with US demands, likely including political and economic reforms, heightening fears that the US could be planning a military attack unless the country complies.
White House officials also told CBS News Friday that the Department of Justice is preparing to criminally indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro for shooting down planes that belonged to a US group that had flown into Cuba's airspace in the 1990s. In January, US forces invaded Venezuela and abducted President Nicolás Maduro, bringing him to the US where he was charged with drug trafficking, and pleaded not guilty.
Former Obama administration staffer and Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor said Sunday that "lots of signals pointing towards an imminent US regime change operation against Cuba."
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Public Health Experts Point to Trump Aid Cuts as WHO Declares Emergency Over Ebola Outbreak in DRC, Uganda
"Before the second Trump administration, USAID would have been on the ground," said one public health expert.
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The World Health Organization's official designation of an Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday came just a day after the world learned that the disease was spreading at all—a highly unusual chain of events, public health experts said, and one that suggested the virus has been circulating for weeks without the outbreak being detected.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday that eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths had been reported in at least three health zones across Ituri Province in the DRC. In Kampala, the densely populated capital of neighboring Uganda, two lab-confirmed cases and one death were reported within 24 hours of each other.
The victims in Kampala had no apparent link to one another; both had recently traveled from Congo.
The confirmed cases in Congo include some that have been reported in Kinshasa, the capital. The fact that the disease has been able to spread to two large cities with international airports, and the "clusters of deaths across the province of Ituri" point to "a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread," said WHO.
"At least four deaths among healthcare workers in a clinical context suggestive of viral haemorrhagic fever have been reported from the affected area, raising concerns regarding healthcare-associated transmission, gaps in infection prevention and control measures, and the potential for amplification within health facilities," the agency said.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said the numbers being reported could make the outbreak "one of the 10 biggest Ebola outbreaks in history."
"We're just hearing about this now? That makes no sense. Those numbers take weeks to accumulate," said Jha, adding that the fact that suspected cases have been detected in capital cities as well as Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, "matters enormously for spread."
Tedros emphasized that the outbreak is considered "extraordinary" because there is no approved vaccine or therapeutics for Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, as this strain is. WHO sent a team to investigate in Ituri after first being notified of suspected Ebola cases on May 5, but initial samples tested negative, as available field equipment was only able to detect the Zaire strain of the disease.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and global partners "need to surge resources in," Jha said. "A slow response creates unnecessary risks to people everywhere."
WHO, which President Donald Trump withdrew the US from last year, said the public health emergency designation was made to ramp up surveillance and infection prevention in the countries where the outbreak is occurring, enhance preparedness in bordering countries, and spread awareness in the international community.
The Ebola outbreak is the second to hit Uganda since Trump slashed foreign assistance funding, including by dismantling the US Agency for International Development. Earlier this month, CNN reported that the administration plans to divert $2 billion in global health program funding to cover the cost of closing USAID.
US foreign spending dropped by 56.9% after Trump shut down the agency as well as smaller aid programs and pushed Congress to rescind previously approved foreign assistance. USAID played a critical role in responding to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
In March 2025, when an Ebola outbreak was reported in Uganda, US officials warned that Trump's actions on foreign assistance at that point, including the termination of USAID grants, was impeding the Ugandan government's ability to procure lab supplies, diagnostic equipment, and protective gear for medical workers.
Dr. Herbert Luswata, president of the Uganda Medical Association, told The New York Times at the time that the country's ability to respond to Ebola was notably different than it had been during a previous outbreak in 2022, when dozens of medical workers volunteered to help treat patients.
The lack of funds and protective equipment had "left many afraid to help this time," the Times reported.
“With no USAID money and CDC expertise, it was like Uganda was left to die," Luswata told the Times.
Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician who survived Ebola in 2014, told CBS Saturday that "before the second Trump administration, USAID would have been on the ground" to respond to the current outbreak.
"The CDC would have been on the ground at a moment's notice, maybe even before a moment's notice, of a new outbreak of Ebola because we were in a bunch of countries," said Spencer. "We created relationships beforehand."
Last year, Trump megadonor Elon Musk, who was then leading efforts to slash government spending at the Department of Government Efficiency, said DOGE had "accidentally" canceled US support for Ebola prevention but claimed the funding had been "restored...and there was no interruption.”
But a number of Ebola-related contracts were in fact cut, accounting for $1.6 million out of $2.2 million that had previously gone toward the prevention efforts.
In recent weeks, public health experts have also warned that Trump's cuts to the CDC and other public health programs have left the US ill-prepared to respond to the hantavirus outbreak that originated on a cruise ship.
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and former leader on USAID's Covid-19 and disaster relief response work, said the current Ebola outbreak is "very worrying" and appeared to be the result of a "massive surveillance failure."
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Establishment Attempts to Paint Platner as 'Rich Kid,' Ignoring 'Ultra Wealthy' Susan Collins' Millions
"I get a chuckle out of the fact that a lot of folks in this political system who come from incredible amounts of privilege and wealth are the first ones to be like, 'Are you really working class?"
May 16, 2026
In an extensive New York Times profile and interview published Friday and Saturday, the newspaper dug into what it called US Senate candidate Graham Platner's "complex class story" and asked how he can consider himself part of the "working class" considering his relatively privileged background.
The presumptive Democratic Maine candidate scoffed at the line of questioning as he pointed to the wide gap between his financial situation and that of people who have questioned his authenticity—as well as that of his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
"I get a chuckle out of the fact that a lot of folks in this political system who come from incredible amounts of privilege and wealth are the first ones to be like, 'Are you really working class? You’re just out there not making a lot of money and working on the ocean, but your dad was a small-town attorney,'" Platner told Lulu Garcia-Navarro, host of the Times' podcast The Interview. "Does that mean that you can’t actually represent working people?"
As the Times reported Friday, Platner is "the son of a Dartmouth College-educated lawyer, the grandson of a famed Connecticut architect, and a graduate of a private high school," with a mother who owns an "upscale restaurant." His family and his in-laws contributed financial help when Platner and his wife purchased their home and when they pursued in-vitro fertilization in Norway, having found the treatment unaffordable under the United States' for-profit healthcare system.
Platner, who is a first-time political candidate and a Marine combat veteran, owns an oyster farm, and according to his financial disclosure forms, the Times reported, "The bulk of his income appears to come from the nearly $60,000 in tax-free disability benefits he qualifies for each year after serving four combat tours."
The Times noted that both Republicans and Democrats who had supported Platner's primary opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, have attacked him over his background and suggested he is wealthier than he lets on.
One Mills supporter, former Maine Democratic Party chair and corporate lobbyist Tony Buxton, was quoted as saying, “This is not a salt-of-the-earth guy coming up from a hardscrabble existence." Buxton is with the firm Preti Flaherty, which represents a company that aims to build a data center in Maine; Platner supports a nationwide moratorium on artificial intelligence data centers.
Contrary to Buxton's remarks, according to financial disclosures, Platner would be the fifth-least wealthy US senator should he be elected in November. His and his wife's combined net worth is below $100,000.
Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News, wondered whether the Times would ever send "three reporters to report on the kind of life Susan Collins has lived versus Graham Platner the last 20 years."
"Tally the private planes, very nice restaurants, millions in wealth accumulation, and stack them next to each other and compare," he suggested. "That would be balanced."
According to Collins' financial disclosures, the five-term Republican senator's current net worth is $9.6 million, with up to $1.8 million directly in the bank last year. More than $342,000 of her wealth comes from interest and dividends from one of the best-performing stock portfolios in the Senate—a portfolio that is in her husband's name, a spokesperson told the Times.
Collins has opposed a ban on stock trading for members of Congress and their spouses.
The senator's financial disclosures also show that the $4.8 million she holds in corporate stocks include Amazon, United Health, and Visa—a company that would directly benefit from Collins' vote this past week against protecting consumers from overdraft fees.
“You could make $25 million a year in this country, you’re way closer to any of the billionaires."
While the National Republican Senatorial Committee's (NRSC) recently asserted that Platner is an "out-of-touch rich kid," the Democrat's campaign told the Times that his Republican opponent is "ultra wealthy."
"I don't think you could come up with a better avatar for the long-serving, self-enriching establishment politician than Susan Collins, who raises an immense amount of money outside of the state of Maine," he told Garcia-Navarro. "She takes an immense amount of money from [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee]. She takes an immense amount of money from special interest groups and fossil fuel companies, and she has a very high-performing stock portfolio. I think a lot of people look at that in Maine and say, 'I don't think that that is actually the politics I want representing me."
Despite the NRSC's attack on Platner as a "rich kid," polls and data suggest that many of the 41-year-old candidate's peers can relate to his personal financial background, with millennials reporting in numerous surveys that their lives are more financially precarious than their parents' were at their age, due to rising costs and debt.
“It’s a lot harder for young people today to save up for markers of the American Dream than it was for previous generations,” Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers, told CNBC last year.
According to the Times and his detractors in the political establishment, wrote Maine-based writer Andy O'Brien, "Graham is this privileged rich kid, but he needs help paying for healthcare and housing. How is that not relatable?"
"I’ve been to a number of Platner’s town halls and one of the most common themes are older Mainers talking about the lack of economic opportunities for their adult children and grandchildren," O'Brien wrote. "Many of these young people are still living at home, even though they have jobs, because they can’t afford to rent or buy a home in Maine. Many of them struggle without affordable healthcare and childcare to allow them to work. At a recent town hall in Appleton, a local teacher told Platner that she had been teaching for 30 years in the area and still had $100,000 in student loan debt that kept compounding interest."
The Times reporters appeared taken aback by Platner's definition of "working class," one that the newspaper called "an expansive interpretation."
“My definition of working class these days is essentially anybody who makes money from wages,” he told the Times. “If you work for a living and you go out and put in hours and you pay taxes just like everyone else, I think that’s quite fair.”
He alluded to his exchange with the reporters in a conversation with The Lever's David Sirota before the articles came out.
While his grandfather was a successful architect, he suggested, the family's financial prosperity hasn't been carried down through subsequent generations.
"My mom is still working because she has no money," he said. "And we're trying to figure out, quite frankly, if she can't sell her restaurant, she's got no retirement. My wife and I, we're not broke, but there's no money at the end of the month."
"You could make $25 million a year in this country, you are way closer to somebody living in poverty than any of the billionaires," he told Sirota. "And these New York Times reporters were like, 'Well, that's a really expansive vision of 'working class.' I'm like, 'You know what else is expansive? Wealth inequality.' Because all of us don't own anything, and a couple people own damn near everything."
Asked whether he’s “really working class,” @grahamformaine had a blunt response:
“Well they’re fucking not.”
In a new Lever Time interview, Platner argues America’s class divide isn’t about who has the perfect résumé — it’s about who works for a living, and who lives off… pic.twitter.com/L2hgrIW6Qy
— The Lever (@LeverNews) May 13, 2026
To Garcia-Navarro, he said: "You are working class if you make your money from work and wages. The world of wealth disparity has become so intense that there are just so many people now who are sitting on so much money who do not work. They make money off their investments. They make money off their wealth."
"I know it’s an expansive definition of 'working class,'" he added, "but I think you need to have an expansive definition when we have the most expansive margin of wealth inequality in the history of the country."
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