SEN BERNIE SANDERS: We?have?a?government?of billionaires, by billionaires and for billionaires

All of us owe Donald Trump and Elon Musk a deep debt of gratitude. 

For a very long time the big money interests, under Democratic and Republican administrations, have dominated our government and our politics. They did it through their campaign contributions, the work of their corporate lobbyists and the extravagant dinners where the rich and the powerful plotted their strategies. Much of their work was done quietly and out of public scrutiny. They had the power. They just didn’t advertise it.  

Not anymore.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, Elon Musk and President Donald Trump (Getty Images)

Donald Trump invited the three wealthiest people in the country, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg to sit right behind him at his inauguration. And behind them were 13 other billionaires who Trump had nominated to run major government agencies. In other words, the power of big money was no longer something to be kept secret. Trump was showing the entire world that the billionaire class was running our government. It was there for all to see.  

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But it’s not just Trump whom we should applaud for his openness. It’s Elon Musk. Ever since the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision of 2010, billionaires and their super-PACs in both political parties have been controlling our political process and buying and selling politicians. 

But no one has been as transparent about that as Musk. He donated over $270 million to Trump’s campaign, and was rewarded by becoming the most powerful person in the government. Nothing complicated about that. You pay for what you get. 

Further, he has made it clear that any member of Congress who votes against the Trump-Musk agenda will be opposed by him and his unlimited financial resources. Nothing subtle about that either. Money talks. You do as I say or my money ends your political career.

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump in a Tesla Model S vehicle on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

So, what does it all mean? What are the implications of having a government run by the billionaire class? 

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There are those who believe that Mr. Musk and the other billionaires in Trump’s Cabinet, smart, hard-working and successful business people, are sacrificing their time and energy to make the government more efficient and effective – and that we should be very grateful for their efforts.

I don’t agree.  

Let’s take a hard look at what’s now happening all around us and see if "efficiency" is the major goal of these billionaires.

A good place to begin is with Social Security, the most popular and successful government program in American history.

Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, attend President Donald Trump's inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

For nearly 90 years, in good times and bad, Social Security has done exactly what it was designed to do – pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American on time and without delay. Last year, it kept over 27 million Americans out of poverty.

And yet today the Trump administration and Elon Musk have been launching an all-out and unprecedented attack on Social Security.

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They are eliminating the ability of seniors and the disabled to apply for benefits over the phone, shutting down Social Security field offices throughout the country and planning to lay off up to half of Social Security’s staff. These disastrous cuts are not making Social Security more efficient or reducing fraud. They are doing the exact opposite.  

Since Trump has been in office, Social Security’s website crashed four times in a recent 10-day period. Lines at Social Security field offices that remain open are getting longer and it’s increasingly difficult for seniors and the disabled to talk to a live human being on Social Security’s 1-800 number.

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During his State of the Union, President Trump falsely suggested that "millions and millions" of Social Security checks are going out to people between the ages of 140 and 360. Not true. It is widely acknowledged, even by Trump’s own nominee to lead the Social Security Administration, that well over 99% of Social Security checks are going out to people who earned those benefits.No one who is 150 or 200 or 300 years old is receiving Social Security benefits. 

Several weeks ago, Mr. Musk falsely claimed that Social Security is "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time." Really? This is a system that has been in effect since 1935 and has never once failed to provide benefits to those who have earned them. Some Ponzi scheme!

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And it’s not just Social Security that the Trump administration is attacking. They are also cutting back on the needs of our nation’s veterans, the men and women who put their lives on the line defending our country.  

At a time when the VA is facing a shortage of many thousands of doctors, nurses and other medical workers, President Trump is making a bad situation even worse by proposing to fire 83,000 employees at the VA. This will undoubtedly mean that the quality of healthcare provided there will decline and veterans will have to wait longer for the benefits they earned.

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That’s not just Bernie Sanders talking. That’s what the VFW and other veterans organizations are saying. Can we make VA healthcare more efficient? Absolutely. But arbitrarily firing 83,000 employees is not the way to do it.

What else is our billionaire-led government in the process of doing? As we speak, President Trump, Mr. Musk and Republicans in Congress are laying the groundwork to pass legislation that would provide huge tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country paid for by massive cuts to healthcare, education, nutrition, housing and other programs that working families and the most vulnerable rely on.

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It has been estimated that the legislation the Republicans are writing would provide a $1.1 trillion tax break to the top 1%. Another study found that if all of Trump’s so-called "America First" policies are enacted, including his tariffs, the bottom 95% of Americans will see their taxes go up, while the top 5% will see their taxes go down. Way down.

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And what is the largest cut they are considering? It would be an up to $880 billion cut to Medicaid – a program that provides healthcare to tens of millions of children, two out of every three seniors in nursing homes, and 43% of the revenue for community health centers that deliver primary care to over 32 million Americans. A cut of this size would devastate our already broken healthcare system and increase healthcare costs for millions of Americans.

It is no secret that our country is deeply divided politically. In my view, however, there are very few people, whether they are conservative, progressive or moderate, who think that we should give tax breaks to billionaires and cut back on Medicaid, education and food for hungry children.

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There are very few people who think we should take a chainsaw to Social Security and the VA – and threaten the well-being of our seniors and veterans.  

The American people want a government and an economy that works for all, not just the wealthy few. It’s about time Congress and the president listened to them.

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