By Chanel Ward
Bernie Sanders rallied in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, just ahead of Super Tuesday and off of his victory in New Hampshire last week, bringing in over 11,000 attendees to the Colorado Convention Center. This is Sanders second stop in Colorado since beginning his 2020 campaign.
With a high demand, overwhelming the Bellco Theatre, the Convention Center changed locations to the larger double Exhibit Halls instead to accommodate the over-flow of Sanders supporters.
“This is a campaign of the working class, by the working class and for the working class.”
Bernie Sanders
Sanders walked on stage to the song, Power to the People with his wife of over 30 years by his side, Jane O’Meara Sanders. The two shared a kiss before Sanders began thanking the massive crowd and saying, “Don’t tell anybody, but I think we’re going to win here in Denver,” Sanders began.
“Let me introduce you to the next, First Lady of the United States, Jane Sanders.” Sanders proudly announced to the cheering crowd as he raised his wife’s hand in the air and she lovingly grabbed his face to embrace one last time before she walked off the stage.
Sanders was not hesitant to start with, “our campaign is about a few fundamental issues and at the top of the list is the need to defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president.”
“We may have disagreements in this country,” he continued, “we certainly do, but the vast majority of American people understand we cannot continue to have a president who is a pathological liar, who is running a corrupt administration, who has no clue what the Constitution of the United States is about, who is a bully, who is vindictive, who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a xenophobe, who is a religious bigot. And those are his best qualities, it all goes down from there,” Sanders stated.
“And let me say that Trump is also a fraud,” said Sanders, reminding the crowd of a statement made by Trump in 2016 about being a friend to the working people, “well Mr. Trump you’re not a friend of working people when you’re trying to throw 32 million people off the healthcare they have. You’re not a friend of working people when your tax proposal gives 83% of its benefits, over 10 years, to the top one percent. You’re not a friend of working people when you try to make massive cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. You’re not a friend of working people, when just the other day you have a nice little cozy fundraiser with your billionaire friends, you raise 10 million bucks, charging people $150,000 each to get a photo with you.
“Trump is not only a liar, he is a fraud and together, putting together the biggest grassroots movement this country has ever seen, we’re going to defeat him!”
In Sanders’ 35-minute speech, he talked Trump, his plans for eliminating the student debt in this country, he covered his plans for healthcare as well as talked raising the minimum wage to $15 across the country and equal pay for all, despite gender, race, beliefs or religion.
“There is something fundamentally wrong in this country when we have three people who own more wealth than the bottom half of American society,” stated Sanders. “There’s something wrong when the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 92%. Something is wrong when people all over this country work two or three jobs, when half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, when 500,000 people in América are sleeping out in the streets, while Trump and his billionaire friends get richer and richer.”
“So, we got a message for Mr. Trump and the corporate elite,” said Sanders, “together we’re going to create a government and an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%.”
Sanders said the overturn of the “disastrous” Citizens United Supreme Court decision is eminent and moving toward public funding of elections, “Democracy to me means one person, one vote,” Sanders stated. “We’re going to win this election because we have received more campaign contributions from more people than any candidate in the history of the United States.”
Sanders received his first Bernie chant after stating, “we don’t go to billionaires’ homes to raise money. We don’t have a Super Pac. This is a campaign of the working class, by the working class and for the working class.”
Togetherness was a big part of Sanders rally. “It’s not just about beating Trump, it is taking on the greed and corruption of wall street, the insurance industry, the corrupt drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, the military industry complex and their endless wars. It is taking on the entire 1%, the corporate establishment, the political establishment and telling them this country belongs to all of us, not just wealthy campaign contributors,” Sanders firmly stated.
To participate and to learn more about Bernie Sanders campaign: BernieSanders.com.
Chanel Ward is an Independent Reporter for The Weekly Issue/El Semanario.
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