Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tried his hand at a “gotcha” question with one of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees on Friday, only to see it blow up in his face.
Pontificating from his chair on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Sanders railed against a “small number of multi-billionaires who have enormous economic, media, and political power” before asking Treasury nominee Scott Bessent if he agrees with President Joe Biden’s assertion that democracy has fallen into the clasped hands of corporate robber barons.
“‘An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights, and our freedoms,’” Sanders read from Biden’s Oval Office speech on Thursday night. “I agree with him. Do you?”
Bessent, a mild-mannered hedge fund investor, gently attempted to remind Sanders of their last conversation about tariffs and imports, policies more central to the Treasury than scolding wealthy Americans. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, who Sanders cited, “all made the money themselves,” Bessent responded.
“Mr. Musk came to the country as an immigrant,”…
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