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Bernie Sanders on What Corporate Media Does Not Want Discussed: The Oligarchy
"Let’s talk," says the Vermont senator, "about the reality which the corporately-controlled media and the corporately-controlled political system don’t talk about very much."
Sep 24, 2025
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont penned a new op-ed published Wednesday in which he attempts to redirect the American electorate away from what most media outlets seem fixated upon to a subject he argues they would rather not acknowledge, discuss, or promote—let alone challenge: the existence and power of the nation's oligarchy, which day by day continues to hollow out democracy while keeping the working class mired in relative poverty with families scraping to meet basic material needs.
"Let’s take a deep breath and, for one moment, forget about Donald Trump, Jimmy Kimmel, the UN, Charlie Kirk, Gaza, a government shutdown, and the other crises that we face," writes Sanders, an Independent, in The Guardian.
Instead, he says, "Let’s talk instead about the reality which the corporately-controlled media and the corporately-controlled political system don’t talk about very much," which is a two-tiered nation in which extremely wealthy billionaires—including mega-billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg—live in "a world completely removed from ordinary Americans" that struggle to have affordable healthcare, housing, and education while earning wages that are lower, on average, than they were half a century ago despite huge increases in worker productivity.
Sanders writes:
What we are witnessing right now is the rise of two Americas. One for the billionaire class. And one for everybody else.
In one America, the richest people are becoming obscenely richer and have never, ever, had it so good. That America is overflowing with unimaginable wealth, greed and opulence that makes the Gilded Age seem very modest.
And then there is a second America–an America where a majority of people live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to secure the very basic necessities of life–food, healthcare, housing and education.
The sad conclusion, Sanders argues, is that the political system in the United States "is badly broken," crushed by the same oligarchs who have amassed large enough private fortunes that they can control "our government, our economy, and our future."
Noting that Musk, Bezos, Ellison, and Zuckerberg—just four individuals—are now have an estimated $1.3 trillion in combined wealth, Sanders says it's not just them. "The top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 93%," he writes.
[The 1%] don’t ride overcrowded subways to get to work or sit in traffic jams to get home. They fly on private jets and helicopters they own. They live in mansions all over the world, send their kids to the most elite private schools and vacation on their own islands. And, for fun, some spend millions to fly off into space on their own rocket ships.
And then there is the other America, where the vast majority of our people live. For them, the economy is not just broken, it is collapsing. In this America, despite a massive increase in worker productivity, real weekly wages for the average American worker are lower today than they were more than 52 years ago.
Since Trump returned to office, Sanders has been traveling the nation as part of his "Fight Oligarchy" tour that has attracted tens of thousands of attendees in red, blue, and purple states. While the message appears to be resonating—and more lawmakers and candidate running for office echoing Sanders' message—the Vermont senator says the fight against massive inequality—both on the economic and political front—is far from over, but must be kept front and center.
After listing the litany of economic injustices faced by the nation's working class, Sanders says, "Enough is enough. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said in 1933: 'We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both.' That warning is even more relevant today."
Despite President Donald Trump being in office and the headwins seemingly in favor of the billionaire class, which has been able to buy elections and increase its stranglehold on major media outlets and platforms, Sanders suggests that the people still have the upper hand when it comes to the long-term battle for the nation's future.
"I know day-to-day life can take a toll, but we must not allow ourselves to fall into despair," he writes. "If we do not allow ourselves to be divided up by Trump and is oligarch allies, we can change the path we are on."
"The choice is clear," Sanders concludes. "Let’s stand together for democracy and justice."
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'This Is OIigarchy': While Job Market Sinks, Musk Aims to Become First Trillionaire
A report released this week revealed that the top 100 billionaires in the US have a net worth totaling $3.86 trillion.
Sep 05, 2025
The US job market has ground to a near halt, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday estimating that the economy produced an average of fewer than 30,000 jobs over the last three months.
However, not every American is feeling economic strain, as The New York Times reported on Friday that the board of electric car maker Tesla has unveiled a proposed compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that could make him the world's first trillionaire.
As the Times wrote, Musk could become worth $1 trillion so long as he boosts Tesla's share value "eightfold over the next decade" and as long as he stays at the company for at least that period.
Musk, who is already the world's richest man with a net worth of over $400 billion, would be left owning 29% of Tesla as part of the package, which the Times noted would be "an extraordinary level of control for a chief executive."
The report did add, however, that it will be very hard for Musk to achieve the full value of the compensation package given the intense competition that has emerged in the electric vehicle market and the damage Musk has inflicted on the Tesla brand with his embrace of far-right politics that have resulted in plunging car sales around the world.
Warren Gunnels, a top adviser to US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), observed on Musk's platform X that the billionaire's massive increase in wealth in the middle of a stalling job market was not a fluke, as several other tech billionaires have also seen their fortunes grow over the last three months.
"In the same 3 months [as the economy averaged under 30,000 jobs created per month]: Musk became $21 billion richer. He’s worth $435 billion," wrote Gunnels.
Gunnels also noted that:
- Oracle founder Larry Ellison became $69 billion richer. He's worth $277 billion.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg became $19 billion richer. He's worth $257 billion.
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became $22 billion richer. He’s worth $245 billion.
"This is oligarchy," Gunnels concluded.
On Wednesday this week, global wealth intelligence firm Altrata released a new report estimating that the total number of billionaires in the US had increased from 927 in 2020 to 1,135 last year, with a collective net worth totaling $5.7 trillion. The top 100 billionaires in the US had a net worth totaling $3.86 trillion, Altrata estimated, with just three of these billionaires—Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg—accounting for nearly $1 trillion in net worth.
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How a Professional Bully Is Winning Control of the Media
Major media outlets from CBS to The Washington Post have “bent the knee” to President Trump’s specious demands.
Apr 25, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump is following the authoritarian’s handbook that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used to consolidate power in Hungary. He is attacking the independent institutions that comprise the infrastructure supporting democracy—universities, law firms, culture, and the media.
And he is winning.
Major media outlets have “bent the knee” his press secretary’s preferred phrase for capitulation to Trump’s specious demands. His latest conquest is CBS.
CBS
Days before the 2024 election, Trump filed a frivolous lawsuit accusing the network of bias in broadcasting a “60 Minutes” interview of then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Seeking $10 billion in damages, the complaint claimed that the edited interview and associated programming were “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” intended to “mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales” in Harris’ favor.
Prominent First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams said that “the First Amendment was drafted to protect the press from just such litigation.” Harvard Law School Professor Rebecca Tushnet called it “ridiculous junk and should be mocked.” Attorney Charles Tobin warned, “This is a frivolous and dangerous attempt by a politician to control the news media.”
A few days later, Trump won the election. And now CBS’ parent company, Paramount, wants to settle the case.
Whatever money CBS pays Trump to settle his frivolous lawsuit is extortion.
Through her family’s holding company, Shari Redstone who is “friendly with Trump” is Paramount’s controlling shareholder. If the Federal Communications Commission approves its pending merger with Skydance Media, Redstone will reap millions.
On February 6, Redstone told the Paramount board that she wanted to settle Trump’s lawsuit. The next day, Trump doubled his damages claim to $20 billion. As the media reported Redstone’s desire to resolve the case, Trump pounced. On April 13, he asserted on social media that the FCC should impose “the maximum fine and punishment” on CBS and the network “should lose its license.”
The parties have agreed on a mediator, but whatever money CBS pays Trump to settle his frivolous lawsuit is extortion. The more profound cost is the loss of CBS’ journalistic independence, which became apparent on April 22 when the producer of “60 Minutes” resigned.
In the program’s 57-year history, Bill Owens—who became the “60 Minutes” executive producer in 2019 after 30 years at CBS—was only the third person to run it. Owens’s memo to his staff should be a warning to all of us:
“[O]ver the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for ‘60 Minutes,’ right for the audience.”
CBS wasn’t Trump’s first media victim.
The Washington Post
In early November 2024, The Washington Post editorial board had signed off on an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president. But it never ran. Owner Jeff Bezos personally killed it and, for the first time in decades, the paper did not endorse a U.S. presidential candidate.
A few hours after Bezos’s “no endorsement” decision became public, officials from his Blue Origin aerospace company, which has a multi-billion dollar contract with NASA, met with Trump.
After Trump won the election, Bezos flew to Mar-a-Lago where he and his fiancée dined with the president-elect. Shortly thereafter, Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. And another Bezos company—Amazon—paid $40 million to license a documentary about Melania Trump, who personally will receive $28 million.
On February 26, Bezos announced a new rightward shift for the Post: It would now advocate for “personal liberties and free markets” and not publish opposing viewpoints on those topics.
The paper’s opinion section editor, David Shipley, resigned in response to the change. Prominent columnists followed him out the door, and more than 250,000 readers canceled their subscriptions.
The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times had an established record of presidential endorsements too—until 2024. Its 2020 endorsement of Joe Biden blasted Trump. But in 2024, billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong quashed an editorial that would have endorsed Vice President Harris. As at the Post, columnists and editorial board members resigned in protest, and the paper lost thousands of subscribers.
After the election, Soon-Shiong killed another editorial set to run with this headline: “Donald Trump’s cabinet choices are not normal. The Senate’s confirmation process should be.”
Self-censorship is the most effective, enduring, and dangerous method of abridging free speech.
More than one-half of Americans “often” or “sometimes” get their news from social media. One-third of all adults in the U.S. get their news from Facebook (operated by Meta). Meta’s president Mark Zuckerberg was among the billionaires who traveled to Mar-a-Lago after the election, met with Trump, and donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. (With the help of corporate and billionaire megadonors like Zuckerberg and Bezos, Trump raised a record $239 million for the fund.)
Then Zuckerberg gave Trump a bigger gift: Meta abandoned third-party fact-checking of Facebook posts. As his rationale, Zuckerberg repeated Trump’s false talking points that fact-checking was “censorship” and reflected an “anti-Trump bias.”
Asked if he thought Zuckerberg was “directly responding to the threats” that Trump had made to him in the past, Trump answered: “Probably.”
Meanwhile, Meta invited Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, a longtime Trump supporter, to join its board of directors.
PBS and NPR
On April 26, Trump will send Congress his request to halt all funding for public media—including NPR and PBS.
Viktor Orbán’s Playbook—The Trump Sequel
Since his return to power, Hungary’s prime minister has used “muscular state policy to achieve conservative ends,” according to conservative activist Christopher Rufo. Orbán is “attempting to rebuild its culture and institutions, from schools to universities to media.”
Orbán began “working with friendly oligarchs to purchase and transform media companies into conservative stalwarts; directing government advertising budgets to politically-aligned outlets;… and pressuring the holdover state media… to provide more favorable coverage.”
Rufo insists that Hungary “has a media environment at least as competitive as that of many Western nations.” Experienced observers disagree:
Human Rights Watch found that the government is using its near media monopoly to strengthen its hold on democratic institutions… The government’s increased control over the media market is linked to its broader assault on rule of law in Hungary, including undermining judicial independence and state capture of public institutions…
Trump’s attacks on universities, law firms, culture, and the media are all of a piece. Viktor Orbán’s Hungary provides a roadmap of his battle plan and a preview of his end game.
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