Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that Democratic Party elites have gone too far in “shunning” and “vilifying” those who disagree with them such as podcast king Joe Rogan and admitted it is hurting the movement.
“Look, you can have an argument with Rogan, agree with him, disagree with him, but what’s the problem [with] going on those shows?” Sanders (I-Vt.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“Clearly you have an alternative media out there, a lot of podcasts, that have millions and millions of viewers. I got vilified by some of the Democratic establishment because I went on Rogan’s show,” said Sanders, 83.
Rogan, 57, whose “Joe Rogan Experience” regularly tops the Apple and Spotify podcast charts, had publicly revealed in 2020 that he voted for Sanders during the Democratic presidential primary.
Sanders has made multiple appearances on Rogan’s podcast over the years.
Rogan, also a comedian and UFC commentator, has previously described himself as liberal but clashed with progressives during the COVID-19 pandemic and raged against social-media-content moderation policies.
Rogan conducted a three-hour-plus conversation with President-elect Donald Trump last month and subsequently backed his candidacy. He later did the same for Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ team indicated it had been in negotiations with Rogan for a sitdown but claimed scheduling issues got in the way.
Rogan said her campaign sought to limit the timespan of the interview to about an hour and made it clear that the mega-podcaster would have had to travel for it. That prompted him to say no. Harris had visited Houston, Texas, on Oct. 26, and Rogan lives about two and a half hours west in Austin.
Some political observers mused that by skipping Rogan’s podcast, Harris missed a key opportunity to beef up her support among male voters and disabuse perceptions she was too scripted.
Sanders went on a blistering takedown of the Democratic Party last week in the aftermath of Harris’ election loss, alleging it “has abandoned working-class people.”
The independent senator, who won his fourth term in the upper chamber last week, stood by that assessment Sunday.
“Here is the reality: The working class of this country is angry, and they have reason to be angry,” he told CNN. “We are living in an economy today where people on top are doing phenomenally well, while 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck.
“It’s not messaging,” he said. “The Biden administration has done a lot of good things, period. We should all be proud of that. But it has to be put in the broad context of the reality of the American economy today.”
He then went on to rip into the wealth inequality permeating the US economy and knocked both the Democratic and Republican parties’ coziness with fat cats.
“In this campaign, in the Republican Party, Democratic Party, billionaires exerted their power. Most Americans know that’s wrong,” Sanders said.
Sanders concurred with an assessment in the Washington Post that “Democrats are preoccupied with the narrow interest of college-educated elite activists more than everyday working people.”
“That’s kind of what I’m saying here,” Sanders said, before rattling off policies he wants the party to pursue such as increasing the minimum wage and expanding health-care access. “These are, without exception, popular ideas that Democrats, Republicans and Independents support.”
But the Vermont senator sidestepped questions about whether Dem President Biden deserves blame for dropping out of the race so late in the game.
“I don’t want to get involved in that. We’ve got to look forward and not in the back. Kamala did her very best. She came in, she won the debate with Trump. She worked as hard as she possibly could,” Sanders said. “Let’s look to the future.”
