Transcript

LIVE: BERNIE LEADS MASSIVE RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA!!

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 25 min · 10,306 words · 100 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "LIVE: BERNIE LEADS MASSIVE RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA!!", an episode of MeidasTouch published February 13, 2026 (1 h 25 min, about 10,306 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including Nida Alam, Bernie Sanders, North Carolina AFL CIO, Elon Musk, Durham County.

What this episode is about

The speech at the massive rally in North Carolina emphasizes the power of the labor movement in advocating for workers' rights and economic justice, highlighting the historical struggle against corporate control and the need for solidarity among working-class individuals. It calls for collective action to organize workplaces and encourages participation in the political process, urging attendees to support candidate Nida Alam to advance labor rights and fair wages.

Key takeaways

  • In a state where billionaires thrive, labor unity is the antidote to economic division.
  • Democratic complacency is history; voters demand real change, not just a gentle nudge toward the status quo.
  • A midterm election with only 18% approval is a rallying call for bold innovation in party strategies.
  • If corporate interests fund your campaign, how can you fight for the people? Integrity is non-negotiable.
  • Hope isn’t lost; candidates like Nida Alam remind us what it means to truly represent the working class.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Nida Alam, North Carolina AFL CIO, Durham County, Wesley Not
  2. – 20:00: Durham County, Bernie Sanders
  3. – 30:00: Bernie Sanders, Elon Musk, Durham County, Apac
  4. – 40:00: Bernie Sanders, Durham County, North Carolina AFL CIO, Wesley Not
  5. – 50:00: Elon Musk
  6. – 1:10:00: Elon Musk

Notable quotes from "LIVE: BERNIE LEADS MASSIVE RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA!!"

  • The North Carolina AFL CIO is committed to making sure North Carolinians in all 100 counties know that and join in solidarity to break the hole that the corporate and financial class has over.
    about North Carolina AFL CIO · at
  • We're demanding dignity. We're demanding fair wages, good benefits, and a path to retirement.
    about Durham County · at
  • My second ask is for you to go and organize your network and get to the polls and vote for Nida Alam.
    about Nida Alam · at
  • My name is Wesley not. I am young. I am progressive. I am a Democratic socialist and I am the chair of the largest county party in the state of North Carolina, the Wake County Democratic Party.
    about Wesley Not · at
  • Bleakest. We have been captured by an oligarchy that serves the few on the backs of the many. Where one man Elon Musk owns as much wealth as the bottom 50% of Americans.
    about Elon Musk · at
  • Including tens of thousands of children, have been killed with our taxpayer dollars. And yet, I am the only candidate that says what's happening in Gaza is a genocide.
    about Apac · at
  • Immigrant kid way back when, making it possible for me to stand before you today, my political hero, Senator Bernie Sanders.
    about Bernie Sanders · at
  • She grew up in this district. She attended North Carolina public schools and then North Carolina State University.
    about North Carolina State University · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Nida Alam — Person · Main speaker / candidate being endorsed · 2 mentions · first at
    Central political figure of the rally; presented as a progressive candidate for NC's 4th congressional district and endorsed by labor leaders and Bernie Sanders.
  • Bernie Sanders — Person · Featured guest speaker / referenced political mentor · 4 mentions · first at
    Headlining speaker at the event; frames the rally around fighting oligarchy, wealth inequality, Citizens United, labor rights, and Medicare for All while endorsing Nida Alam.
  • Elon Musk — Person · Referenced billionaire / antagonist figure in oligarchy narrative · 4 mentions · first at
    Used as a symbol of extreme wealth concentration and tech-oligarch political influence; cited as owning X (Twitter) and as a major donor to Donald Trump.
  • Wesley Not — Person · Local political leader / introducer · 2 mentions · first at
    Introduces and advocates for Nida Alam from the perspective of party leadership; positions himself as a young progressive/Democratic socialist and chair of the Wake County Democratic Party.

Companies & orgs

  • North Carolina AFL CIO — Company · Main speaker · 3 mentions · first at
    Represents the labor movement in North Carolina, advocating for workers' rights and political change.
  • Wake County Democratic Party — Company · Political organization · 1 mention · first at
    A local Democratic party organization advocating for political change.
    My name is Wesley not. I am young. I am progressive. I am a Democratic socialist and I am the chair of the largest county party in the state of North Carolina, the Wake County Democratic Party.
  • Apac — Company · Criticized entity · 1 mention · first at
    A political action committee criticized for its influence in elections.
  • CWA — Company · Affiliated organization · 3 mentions
    A labor union mentioned in the context of political endorsement.
    I and the rest of the AFL CIO of North Carolina have no doubt that CWA member Nida Alam is the right choice to represent us in Congress.
  • Meta — Company · Criticized entity · 1 mention · first at
    A tech giant criticized for its influence and practices.
    My opponent is a Democrat, sure, but she's cashing checks from all the same companies as a mega Republican.

Places & events

  • Durham County — Place · Setting · 8 mentions · first at
    The location where the event is taking place, significant for its historical and political context.
  • North Carolina State University — Place · Educational institution · 1 mention · first at
    A university mentioned in the context of a speaker's background.
  • Durham Convention Center — Place · Venue · 1 mention · first at
    The physical location where the event is held.
    Let me thank the Durham Convention Center. Thank Eliza Mclam, Yasmin Williams, Mama Cookie, Finn Mckelley, and Braxton Winston of the North Carolina AFL CIO. Thanks for your.

Full transcript with timestamps

are a greatl looking crowd. Give yourselves a round of applause. The American labor movement is the most powerful movement for change in the history of this great nation. The North Carolina AFL CIO is committed to making sure North Carolinians in all 100 counties know that and join in solidarity to break the hole that the corporate and financial class has over our state's economy. The billionaires and their enablers know know that they know how powerful we are, which is why they have worked so hard over the past 100 years to divide workingclass people here in North Carolina.

That is why public sector workers don't have the right to collectively bargain. That's why we are a right to work state. That's why we're an atill state. But things don't have to stay the same. We can change that.

The corporations and the billionaires, they know that it was the organizing of labor that ultimately ended the systems of slavery that were the foundations of the tobacco and cotton industries in North Carolina and are the source of so much wealth here in Durham and Durham County. Right. We're not pleading for more philanthropy. We don't need more names on buildings.

We're demanding dignity. We're demanding fair wages, good benefits, and a path to retirement. They know that it was the labor movement that made the promise of a middle class a reality in the 20th century. And they know that it will be organized labor that will stop the tech billionaires from wrecking havoc on our economy in the 21st century. Durham, I have two asks for you today. Let us at the North Carolina AFL CIO help you take on your bosses and corporations at work in your workplaces. Organize your workplaces. A fair contract is possible for everyone in this room and everyone watching out there.

Go to afflc.org or and contact us. We will help you form a union in your workplace.

My second ask is for you to go and organize your network and get to the polls and vote for Nida Alam. Do it today and every day through the first week in March. Polls are open right now. Look, labor movements need strong political power to implement our agenda. And that starts with electing those who will serve the needs of working people day in and day out. I and the rest of the AFL CIO of North Carolina have no doubt that CWA member Nida Alam is the right choice to represent us in Congress.

So when you leave, make sure you get to the polls and cast your vote for DA Alam. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. My name is Wesley not. I am young. I am progressive. I am a Democratic socialist and I am the chair of the largest county party in the state of North Carolina, the Wake County Democratic Party.

If it feels like things are changing in this party, it's because they are. And the people of the fourth congressional district have an opportunity to be a part of that change in this election because you have a choice and who your next representative in Congress will be. Y'all, it's a midterm election year, but only 18% of voters approve of the job Democrats in Congress are doing. Yet, there is still a donor-driven establishment wing of our party that insists we don't need to change. They say we don't need a positive message for the future. We should play things safe.

Keep the focus on how bad Donald Trump is. Don't offer a better vision for people and stick to the status quo. But the status quo is not working.

The status quo lost us the House. It lost us the Senate. And it lost us the White House. It is time for change in our party. I don't think people want marginal improvements to our economy or our health care system or our foreign policy. I think people know that our economy is rigged. Our health care system is fundamentally broken and our foreign policy is soulless. I think people are longing for leaders who will fight for something that's actually better, that's tangibly better, that's meaningfully better than this. But we have been told for years in this party that something meaningfully better is not possible. That is getting harder and harder to believe.

Today we have billionaires with yachts so big that they dock smaller yachts on them for the excursions the big yachts can't go on. Companies are laying off workers just so they can buy their own stock back and inflate their share prices. And the most powerful corporations in the history of the world are busting up unions, preventing frontline workers from organizing for basic rights and basic dignity on the job. Y'all, I am sorry, but if those same corporations are spending money to keep you in Congress, you are not doing the job right.

It is not radical to expect our party to hold these corporations and oligarchs accountable. What we are calling for and in this primary what we are demanding is a return to what we know this party can be because it is who we once were. We are the party of antirust laws. We are the party that broke up the monopolies. We are the party that took on the robber barons and the oil trusts and the steel trusts insisting that the power of the people must be stronger than the power of concentrated wealth. We demand a return to that kind of party because we are up against that kind of corporate power again. The Democratic Party cannot expect people to believe that we are fighting for everyday Americans if we are beholden to those same corporate interests. It is time for change in our party.

That's why I'm excited about the next speaker you're going to hear from. Na Alam works for the people. She stands up to special interests. She fights back against corporate cronyism. Y'all, I know I'm not supposed to say this as the chair of the county party, but I'm going to be honest. I had started to lose faith in this party a little bit. I had started to lose a little bit of hope. But when I heard Nitto was running, I felt that hope stirring up in my soul again. And y'all, for the first time in a long time, I'm feeling hopeful again.

I'm hopeful for a federal jobs guarantee. I'm hopeful for universal child care and tuitionfree college. I'm hopeful for a green new deal. And I'm hopeful for a foreign policy that invests and helps build schools and hospitals abroad rather than helping bomb them. I am hopeful for health care for every man, woman, and child in this country because I am once again hopeful for Medicare for all. I'm hopeful for a stronger party that actually delivers for working people. Are y'all feeling hopeful in the room today?

Are you ready to turn that hope into action? Do not underestimate the Democratic Party's ability to resist this kind of change. It will not be easy. Don't get too excited at the rally and think that we've got it in the bag. We need your help turning that hope into action. We need you to knock on doors and talk to voters and make phone calls and stand at the polls and share about what's making you hopeful for our future. Tell people about what Nitto Alam is fighting for for the people of the fourth congressional district

because I am confident that if we work together over the next few weeks, we can make Durham County Commissioner and with our help the next representative for the fourth congressional district, Netta Alam, the next progressive voice in this nation.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm tired of looking to New York to find candidates and and elected officials that are exciting and actually fighting for the people. I'm ready to have people in North Carolina that inspire that kind of hope. And Neta Alam is that leader. And I know that together we can fight for that brighter future together. So thank you for being here. Thank you for volunteering and donating. Thank you for standing with Nida. A brighter future is possible together.

Yeah. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Why are there so many songs about me? Heat. Heat. So we choose to believe representative from the fourth congressional district. Y'all still feeling hopeful? Jump up on your feet and get excited for Durham County Commissioner with our help. The next representative from the fourth congressional district, Nana Alam,

give it up to Carro's own Alike. Isa Mlam, the brilliant Yasmin Williams, the legendary Mama Cookie, my union brother, Braxton Winston, my dear friend, chair of the Wake County Dems, Wesley KN, and our future president Finn Mi. Aren't they great? I see so many familiar faces here today. friends, family, fellow organizers from over the years. But if this is our first time together, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nita Alam. I'm the vice chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners and I'm running for Congress.

Today is a monumental day for our movement, for our community, and in many ways for me, it's a full circle moment. And let me explain. 11 years ago, I stood on a stage just down the road. Okay, not down the road. It was in Greensboro, but still down 40. I was nervous, excited, and fired up. On paper, I had nothing in common with the man that I was about to introduce. He was a white-haired Jewish senator from Vermont, and I was a Muslim college student from North Carolina. He had grandchildren. I had an organic chemistry final.

But I saw something else in this man. I saw hope. I saw conviction. I saw for the first time that working people might actually have a place in national politics. That's right. That man was Senator Bernie Sanders. Now, to be honest, despite all the excitement, that wasn't a happy time in my life. It was a hard time here in the Triangle. Just a few months earlier, my dear friends Diabat, Yaser, and Rosan Abu Salha were murdered in a terrible hate crime in Chapel Hill. Walking into their apartment with a gun, their next door neighbor ended three beautiful successful joyful brilliant lives in just 36 seconds.

Local leaders and pol and the police didn't see it that way. In fact, they were quick to label it the situation a parking dispute as if that is all their lives were worth. Entire futures swept under the rug like just another petty disagreement. Frustrated and grieving, I began to doubt all politicians. One day they demonized Muslims and the next they explained away our debts with a wave of a hand. I felt hopeless and most of all I missed my friends. As hard as it is to say, I even began to doubt my place here in North Carolina, my home for almost all my life.

But along came this senator that with white hair flowing in the wind who Toir told me to check out. And Bernie saw me in my grief. When he spoke about immigrants, he spoke to us not as outsiders but as a part of his movement for socioeconomic justice and human dignity. When he spoke about Muslims, he addressed us not as foreigners but as brothers and sisters as he does to this day. And when he spoke about working people, he mentioned us not as a convenient voting block but as his heart and soul. He believed in our ability to fight for someone that we don't know. In the hardest year of my life, he gave me a platform to tell my story. And though I can never ever repay him for that kindness, I'm here today to continue his fight.

And trust me, brothers and sisters, we have a fight ahead of us. We have faced many dark moments in the history of our democracy, and this is one of the bleakest. We have been captured by an oligarchy that serves the few on the backs of the many. Where one man Elon Musk owns as much wealth as the bottom 50% of Americans. Where the median age to buy a home is 59 years old, leaving our generation and the next more likely to be paying student debt for the rest of their life than being able to have a mortgage. where AI billionaires get millions of dollars in tax cuts to build their data centers while the rest of us are footing the bills.

Our district is a beacon of progress in the south. a rainbow coalition of immigrants workers academics Jews Christians Muslims Hindus neighbors and it has and it has put a target on our back. When Trump and Musk took over the federal government and stripped it for parts, it was our district that suffered the worst cuts in the entire country. Over the past few months, I've heard from US A workers, FEMA responders, accomplished academics, doing lifesaving research, and I've kept hearing the same story over and over again. Almost a year looking for a new job, months on unemployment. Many on the verge of starting their own family or even just a few weeks away from retirement themselves.

Maybe some of you are in the crowd here today. Well, I want you to hear this room. Are we going to let them suffer alone?

No. When federal workers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up. When immigrants are under attack, what do we do?

Stand up. Fight back. When unions are under attack, what do we do? Stand up. We stand up and fight back. That's the way we do it in NC4. So, why is it that our member of Congress is not getting the memo? We have been told that our hands are tied. Maybe next cycle. We've been told vote blue no matter who. We've been told just wait until Democrats have the majority. I don't know about y'all, but I am sick and tired of being told to wait while our neighbors are suffering every day. A 100 million Americans are in over 200 billion dollars of medical debt. And yet I am the only candidate in this race who refuses to take money from the pharmaceutical and private hospital lobby.

Peaceful protesters are getting murdered in broad daylight. And yet I am the only candidate in this race who has said loud and clear, abolish ICE. 70 70,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, including tens of thousands of children, have been killed with our taxpayer dollars. And yet, I am the only candidate that says what's happening in Gaza is a genocide. and who has never ever taken a scent from Apac and never will. We have to face the truth that what we're up against is not just the authoritarian Trump regime or the billionaire class drunk on their own greed. What we're up against is the corporate interests that have come to dominate our own party.

My opponent is a Democrat, sure, but she's cashing checks from all the same companies as a mega Republican. Walmart, Lockheed Martin, Astroenica, Rathon, and Meta, and more. So, when it comes to governing, how can she stand up to them? You can't say you're for Medicare for all while taking money from the same companies that spend millions every year to kill it. You can't say you're for a Green New Deal when you're taking money from the same companies that are polluting our environment. You can't call yourself a progressive in one meeting and run away from a high schooler asking a basic question in the next.

We know better. We deserve better. And frankly, the oligarchs are scared. They're doing everything they can to discredit our brighter future right now. We've been accused of dreaming too big of speaking in platitudes. Frankly, that tells me exactly what I need to know. If you think Medicare for all is just a platitude, you were never going to fight for it in the first place. If you think a Green New Deal is just a platitude, you are never going to get it passed. And if you think abolish ICE is a platitude and that body cams will save us from state violence in our streets, then you don't know who we're up against.

My friends, these are not platitudes. These are policy positions and they are policies that we will enact when we go to DC. It's what I've done as a commissioner here in Durham County. Pass the largest Durham largest budget for Durham County public schools in our county's history. Created tax relief programs for lowincome and senior homeowners to keep our communities in place. raise the minimum wage for our old county employees, including our educators. And when ICE was out in our streets targeting our neighbors, I was out there alongside all of you.

We stood shouldertosh shoulder yelling ice out. So, if you're sick and tired of excuses, of losing hope, of bills piling up, or just of a members of Congress who don't answer the damn phone, I'm here to tell you your days of settling for the status quo are over.

We have a target on our backs for a reason. Because we are a community of fighters. We should be the loudest voice in Washington DC, not the quietest. We should be the boldest fighters on Capitol Hill, not the not aligned with the establishment. And we should wear that target as a badge of honor, not as a muzzle. Yes, these are hard times, North Carolina. Maybe some of you in this crowd have carried the burden of it. Maybe some of you are dealing with the worst year of your life right now. And if that's you, then I want to tell you something that Bernie told me 11 years ago. This is your platform. This is your moment. We have been waiting for you and we are not going anywhere because we've been in this fight before, right? Bernie Sanders sure has.

And I know I have. When I ran for this seat in 22, it became the most expensive primary of either party in state history. Apac poured $2.5 million into ads. A cryptobillionaire who was sitting in the Bahamas and is now in jail for fraud, saw that, and said, "Bet, let me throw in another million." But as a great Paulie Murray once said, "What is often called exceptional ability is nothing more than persistent endeavor." Just the other night, we held a screening of the film Palestine 36 with my former opponent Clay Aken and Palestinian journalist Ahmed Shahab Alin.

We had a great crowd come and join us. And right before I entered the theater, I saw a Palestinian auntie waiting for me by the door. And she told me that she's proud of me and that for her, it isn't about the title that I hold or how far I'll go from here today. For her, it's that we've already begun to make a difference by just showing up. We're not here because we're special. We're not here because we're exceptional. We're here because we are persistent and we will never stop defending our shared humanity. The loving kindness and compassion that bring us all together. When I think of that loving kindness, first and foremost, I think of my immigrant parents.

an unlikely match from India and Pakistan who sacrificed so much so my sisters and I could dream big. To this day, my parents are my biggest champions and supporters. Some of you may have seen them over the years greeting you at the polls. And I also can't help but think of my children, Alia.

Aliia and Abdo. My children are my heart, the joy of my life. I look at them playing with their friends and cousins, sharing their toys and smiles and snacks. And I know that we are not born with hate in our hearts, nor with division or isolation or dismissal. So, in the spirit of Bernie Sanders, because I am a Bernie alum, if nothing else, could I ask you all to look around to the left and to the right of you and join hands with the person next to you? Even if you don't know them, even if they don't look like you.

I'm serious, y'all. Come on. Let's get cozy. Hold hands. Can you hold my hand? My children will never get to meet Diaenraanne and neither will most of you or your children or their children. But hand in hand, we will build the brighter future that they dreamed of. A future with a space for all of us today. And today, right after this speaking program, Durham County voters, I want you to join my campaign outside because we are going to be marching to the polls together to demand the brighter future we demand. You deserve it.

But but before we do, please join me in welcoming the man who lit the spark in this young Muslim immigrant kid way back when, making it possible for me to stand before you today, my political hero, Senator Bernie Sanders. Oh,

heat heat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Let me let me thank the Durham Convention Center. Thank Eliza Mclam, Yasmin Williams, Mama Cookie, Finn Mckelley, and Braxton Winston of the North Carolina AFL CIO. Thanks for your union support, Wesley not. And certainly last but not least, I want to thank Nida for all the great work she has been doing and being here with us this afternoon for a fighting oligarchy event.

Nida is, as I think all of you know, a proven fighter with the courage to take on corporate power, to take on billionaires, to take on billionaire funded super PACs like crypto and APAC and all of these special interest groups who think they can buy American democracy. And we're here in Durham to say loudly and clearly that we believe in democracy, not billionaires buying elections, not an effort to divide us up. We're going to bring our people together in the fight for economic, racial, social, and environmental justice.

As I think you all know, Nida is a local girl. She grew up in this district. She attended North Carolina public schools and then North Carolina State University. Now, I know it's a competitive situation here, right? Some of you went to other universities, but forgive her. That's all right. We're in this together. Uh, and while at NCSU, she led a campaign to partner with local health care workers to provide free health care to the lowincome community. As you heard a few moments ago, she turned unimaginable loss into a commitment to justice after the 2015 Chapel Hill murders of her close friends in a unspeakable hate crime. and she made history as the first Muslim woman ever elected in North Carolina, serving as the vice serving as the vice chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners.

At a moment when the oligarchs are tightening their grip on our society, we need leaders like Nita. leaders who answer to working families and not the billionaire class. So Nida, thanks very much for joining me on this fighting oligarchy event. This is actually our 37th event in 24 states and we have brought out well over 300,000 people in those events from coast to coast. And what I am very happy to tell you is my observation having done all of these events is the American people, not just progressives, not just Democrats, but Republicans and independents as well, do not want this country to be an authoritarian society or an oligarchy.

In a democracy, we have our differences. And I suspect that in this room, there are people with a lot of differences. And that's what democracy is about. We argue it out. We don't throw those people who disagree with us in jail. We don't intimidate the media. We don't user the powers of Congress and we don't send ICE agents out into our communities to knock down doors and shoot people.

In my humble opinion, we are living today in an unprecedented moment in American history and the most dangerous times in the modern history of our country. And I want us all to take kind of a deep breath and think about where we are today, how we got to where we are, and where we have got to go into the future. Cuz these are really crazy times. So many things are happening. It's not just Trump's authoritarianism. It's not just oligarchy. It's not just AI and robotics which are going to transform our economy. Not just climate change. So many things are converging at the same time. We got to take a deep breath to figure out where we are at and where we want to go. But let me start off with something that concerns me very very deeply that we don't talk about.

And and we have to ask ourselves sometimes why the most important issues facing our society get very little discussion. Do you understand what I mean by that? So, I'm a United States senator and I work a lot in Washington. I walk down the hallways and you got a lot of members of the press there and they every day they're asking me about this and they're asking me about that. Important questions, but the most important questions are very rarely asked and that has a lot to do with wealth and power. We don't discuss that very much. You know, we'll talk about what Trump said yesterday or this or that. Wealth and power. What am I talking about?

Right now, at this particular moment in American history, we have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of America. Okay? And I'm going to bore you for a moment rattling off some statistics, but it's important that you hear that because you ain't going to hear it from too many other people. And you're not going to hear it on the TV and you're not going to hear it see it in the newspapers. All right. Today in America, the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 93%. Today in America, one man, Elon Musk, one man, owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households.

Today in America, while Mr. Musk is close to becoming a trillionaire, 60% of our people in North Carolina, in Vermont, and around this country are living paycheck to paycheck. You all know what that means. Some of you know what that means very painfully, right? I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. I grew up in a 3 and 1/2 room rent controlled apartment in New York City. And my memories of my childhood are the stresses in our house, a family that just didn't have enough money to do things that my parents wanted us to do and fights and arguments that trickle down to my brother and me.

And all over this country today, people are going through the same struggles that my family went through. People are wondering that if mom gets sick, how are we going to be able to afford the prescription drugs that they need? People are worried about how am I going to pay for child care for my kid? How am I going to send my kid to college when he's he or she is so bright and wants a good education? People are worrying about what happens when my landlord raises the rent by 20%. Which is going on all over America. I don't know about here, certainly in Vermont. Here, too. Cost of housing is soaring. All right. And people are worried what happens. My landlord raises the rent. Where do I go? I got a kid in school. I got to move the kid. Be very disruptive. People are worried about what happens if my car breaks down and the mechanic is going to say it cost me a thousand bucks to get it fixed.

All right? And if I can't get it fixed, I can't get to work. And if I can't get to work, I don't have an income. And then what the hell happens to my family? There is a sad reality in America today in that our life expectancy, how long we live, is lower than almost every major wealthy country. But what is even more distressful is the fact that if you are working class in America, you are going to live 7 years shorter life than if you are wealthy. Can you imagine that? All right. Why is that? You tell me.

Healthcare is one of the reasons. And I'm going to get into healthcare in a moment, but actually it's not the major reason. All right, you got it. In every audience that I speak, that answer comes up. Stress. Few years ago, I did a hearing in Washington with a bunch of doctors and the title of the hearing was the physiology of poverty. You know what I mean by that? When you are workingass or low-inccome and you are worried every day about how you're going to feed your kids, how you're going to pay the rent, how you're going to get to your job, whether you'll have a job, whether your boss will force you to work on a Sunday when you have to take care of your kid, worried about the health of your parents. All of that shre beats you down.

cardio in terms of heart disease in terms of a whole myriad of diseases in terms of distress and mental illness as well. So what we are looking at right now is 60% 60% of the people in the wealthiest country on earth are struggling every single day while the people on top have never ever had it so good. Some of you may recall that when Trump was inaugurated and I had the mispleasure of being there and right behind them, you had some of the wealthiest people in this country and you had like 13 or 14 billionaires who he had nominated to run various government agencies. And in this last year alone, not only has Trump and his family become much richer, the billionaire class has become over a trillion dollars wealthier.

So the other day, some of you may have noticed that Trump said, "We are living in the best economy in the history of the world."

Well, he's right for him and his billionaire friends. He's exactly right. But not for ordinary Americans. So the struggle that we are in right now is in fact to create an economy that works for all of us and not just Mr. Musk and his friends.

So the struggle is about oligarchy. And when we talk about oligarchy, it is not just the horrific level of income and wealth inequality that we have. It is also a billionaire class that largely controls our economy. Today we have more concentration of ownership than we've ever had in the history of America. You got three Wall Street firms, Black Rockck, State Street, and Vanguard, who combined are the major stockholders in over 95% of S&P corporations. But it's not just income and wealth inequality. It is not just that a few large Wall Street firms have so much control over the economy.

It is the media. Fewer and fewer larger large media conglomerates own and control what you see, hear, and read. All right. We work as a United States senator, former presidential candidate, we work social media very hard. And we have, if I'm not mistaken, something like 50 million followers on our campaign side and our Senate side. That's a lot. But here's the point. Who do you think owns the social media that we're on? Who owns X Twitter?

You know who owns it? Who owns it? Musk. Who owns Facebook and Instagram? That's right. who owns increasingly Tik Tok Ellison who also when he bought Paramont now owns CBS network who owns the Washington Post and Twitch Jeff Bezos. So what you're looking at when you talk about oligarchy, it's not only the economy. These guys are very smart. So they want to control to a large degree. They are what the American people see, hear, and read. And Mr. Musk has been very nice and allows us to use his platform. We appreciate it. Tomorrow he could pull the plug. It's his platform.

And that is true with folks who own our major newspapers. generally speaking, billionaires. But it is not just income and wealth inequality. It is not just concentration of ownership in our economy. It is not just that a handful of billionaires control our media. That's not enough for these guys. They now want to control our political system. So, as a result of this disastrous Supreme Court decision called Citizens United, maybe the most dangerous decision ever made by the Supreme Court, billionaires through their super PACs, super PACs like Apac and Crypto and God knows what.

They got many of them. Billionaires are now pouring huge amounts of money into these super PACs. And many of the ads you'll see in North Carolina, Vermont, and all over this country come from organizations whose names don't mean anything to you. Come up with a name, Citizens for Better World, or whatever it may be. This is funded by billionaires who have a very special interest. And many of the ads they put on have nothing to do with who they are. They'll be attacking their particular opponent or supporting somebody else. During the last presidential election, Mr. Musk himself, the wealthiest guy on earth, provided $290 million to elect Donald Trump.

Other Republican billionaires put in a whole lot of money, but it's not just the Republican party. Democrats have billionaires as well who largely influence what goes on in the Democratic party. So when we speak about what's going on in America, the major struggle is will we have a vibrant democracy where the needs of ordinary people will be manifested in their elected officials or will we continue to have a government of the billionaire class by the billionaire class and for the billionaire class? That's the struggle that we are facing right now.

Now what the billionaire class wants is not just more and more wealth. That is their obsession. And I think we all know that we are living in a painful moment where many folks we know are dealing with one or another addiction problems. Maybe it's drugs, maybe it's alcohol, maybe it's tobacco, maybe it's food. Whatever it may be, we're dealing with addiction problems. But I got to tell you, the most serious addiction problem this country faces is the billionaire's addiction to greed.

I don't think anybody in this room objects to people who work hard, start a business, slave away their work, and make money. Good for them. But there comes a point where enough is enough. And in my view, we have reached that point. But it's not just that the billionaires want more and more wealth and power. Many of them, not all, really do not believe in democracy. You remember when we were kids and we studied history and we learned about the monarchs in Europe in the 18th century that the American revolutionaries fought against. These guys 19th century 18th century they believe that the the monarchs believe they had the divine right to rule. Remember that God ordained the Zar of Russia to have all this wealth and the kings of England and France and everything else. All right.

Divine right to rule. I want to tell you that many of these big tech oligarchs today also believe they have the divine right to rule. And they are saying, "Who do you think you are? We are multi-billionaires. We've worked hard. We're smart. We have created these giant corporations. Who the hell do you think you are to tell us how to run our business, to regulate us? Our job is to rule you, not to be told what to do by people in a democratic society. Which leads us to the whole issue of authoritarianism. There is a reason why Donald Trump right now attacks Europe, the people in Europe, the countries in Europe every day. Because you know what? They have democratic governments. Some of them work well, some of them don't. But every country in Europe is a democracy.

And there is a reason why Trump welcomed into the White House open arms the dictator from Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, a man who the US intelligence agency determined murdered in cold blood a guy named Jamal Kuji. You remember that? Had him chopped up in an embassy, I think in Turkey. murderer, a dictator. You try to protest anything in Saudi Arabia, you are in jail. You're tortured. Trump loves that kind of guy. He loves those people because you can make a deal with them. You don't have to worry about the people getting in the way. Really nice. You could sit down with some the family that runs Saudi Arabia happens to be a trillion dollar family, the wealthiest family in the world. Sit down, make a deal with them.

They're going to put golf courses or whatever they doing. Easy. Democracy is kind of messy. Who the hell needs that? So, what we are taking on now is a president supported by not all, I don't want to condemn all, but many of these oligarchs who find AI regulation, and I want to talk about that in a moment, kind of painful. They want to do what they want to do. And they don't want you getting in their way. They don't want unions standing up for workers rights. Who the hell is a union? I own the company. I will do what I want. I don't want to be bothered by you, your demands. forget about it. I run the company, my world.

That's what we're taking on. And in Trump, you're taking on a president who every day users the power of Congress. Clearly is not sympathetic to the division of power inherent in our Constitution actually says that states like mine that voted against them may not be getting the federal money that was appropriated. You voted against me. Why do you think I'm going to give you money? Usering the power, threatening the courts, threatening and suing the media, having his friends taking over other large media now threatening to put US senators in jail because they spoke out on an important issue.

And the oligarchs like that. So there is a marriage. Don't see oligarchy and authoritarianism as separate issues. They are the same. Authoritarianism is a way in which oligarchs can move forward uh without impediments. I want to touch on one other issue which I am getting increasingly obsessed with in the midst of everything else we're dealing with and I don't know how much you guys have been following it and that is artificial intelligence and robotics. Okay. All right. I got a question. Don't give me the answer that I want to hear.

Give me be honest. Something that you're feeling. How many of you are concerned about what AI and robotics will do for the future of this country? How many of you are not concerned and are feeling okay about it? Wow. That's pretty unanimous. All right. I am concerned and I think that as a nation and as a Congress, we are in no way prepared for the tsunami that is about to come. Right? What am I talking about? I'm talking about people like Jeff Bezos who owns Amazon who has made it clear is already replacing the workers in Amazon warehouses. I don't know. Do you have any warehouses? Amazon warehouses here.

Okay. beginning to replace them. And his goal is he tells his people, his management, we want to automate it all. All right? And certainly Amazon is not the only company working that way. If you work in transportation, if you're a truck driver, an Uber driver, a cab driver, there are driverless vehicles now that are gaining steam and we see the loss of many, many hundreds of thousands of jobs there. If you are a young person graduating college, trying to get an entry-level job, we see that and I'm talking not just from myself, but I'm telling you what other people are saying who know something a lot about this issue. Those jobs may be gone. I mean, there are really frightening statements coming out from people who really know a lot about it, what it means for the future of our economy. And the issue there is not that AI and robotics are good or bad. It is how they are used and who benefits from

them. So if AI can can diagnose a disease, if AI can create a drug that deals with cancer or Alzheimer's, that is a good thing. If AI and robotics throw millions of people out on the street, that is a bad thing. Right now, when we get back to oligarchy, virtually all of the money, and there are huge investments right now, AI and robotics are seeing more investments as a percentage of our GDP. We're talking about many, many, many hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars. It is the largest investment in the history of this country since the Louisiana purchase.

All right. Who are the people behind these investments? They're our friends Elon Musk, Jeff Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, the richest people in the world. And what I worry about is given the history of these people, they are not making hundreds of billions of dollars investment in order to improve life for working people in this country.

So I'm on a kind of crusade here trying to slow this thing down to let us get a handle on it. All right. How do we make AI and robotics work for everybody? How does it improve lives? If it lowers the UAW, my friend Sean Payne, who's head of the UAW, when they were negotiating a contract, they said, "You know what? Not only we want better wages, working conditions, etc., we want a 32-hour work week." Why did they say that? They said that because they perceive that every one of their workers is going to be more productive. They wanted their workers to benefit from that through a shorter work week. But those are the kind of ideas that we have got to be talking about.

You got to think hard. How do we make AI and robotics work for you and your family, not just Elon Musk and other billionaires? It's a huge issue out there. And that is why I have called for a moratorum on data centers. And I do that not only you got data centers here in North Carolina, okay? They're spreading all over the country and people are rising up against them for a number of reasons. They don't want to see higher electric bills. You know, data centers consume an unbelievable amount of electricity and water. And that's kind of the major reason. But to me, more importantly, we got to slow the process down. And I'll tell you something else. I did a town meeting at Georgetown University a few months ago with a guy named Jeffrey Hinton. That name mean anything to anybody? Jeffrey Hinton. He uh has won the Nobel Prize in physics a few years ago. And more importantly, he is considered one of the

godfathers of AI. He's been working on this for many many decades. And what he said is that it is only a matter of time and it may be a few years where AI and you understand what AI is capable of doing. They are absorbing every book that has ever been written, every post that has ever been put on the internet, every mathematical equation that has ever been dealt with, every problem in physics, chemistry, you name it. They are absorbing all of that. And what he has said is that he thinks that in a time in a very near future, AI will be smarter than humans.

and what used to be science fiction. I don't know how many of you saw 2001, the space odyssey. Maybe some of the older folks here may have seen it. Anyhow, there's a scene in this movie where there these guys are on a spaceship heading off the someplace in the universe and uh they have a a computer that's running supercomputer that's running the spaceship. Peter's name is Hal. And one day, you know, one of the captains on the spaceship says, "All right, Hal, I want you to do this or that." And Hal says, "Well, not really."

Hal rebels. And that was, you know, they dealt with it. But the idea that the supercomput could rebel was what the the film was about. That is no longer science fiction. So, I don't want to frighten anybody because nobody knows. I mean, people disagree with it. People know a lot more than I do. But there are serious people who have studied this issue who worry very much that the day may come where AI becomes independent of human control and that would be a bit frightening to say the least. So other than that things are going pretty well. Uh um and let me just also say this that it is imperative that we continue to do everything that we can to stop Trumpism. And what Trumpism is about is not only support for the oligarchy.

Uh it is to do it is doing what demagogues throughout history have always done. Trump didn't invent this playbook. It's gone on for a long, long time. And what that playbook is about is when a country, whether it was Germany in the 30s or other countries around the world, when people are struggling, people don't have the income they need to survive, when they can't afford basic necessities of life, what demagogues always do is find a powerless minority and blame them for all the problems. In Germany, it was the Jews. Uh, throughout our country's history, it was blacks. If white people were not making enough money, blacks are taking your jobs. Da da da. It was Asians. We had an Asian expulsion legislation. They were taking white folks jobs. Uh, women are too upy taking men's jobs. You know, gays are taking over the schools. You always have to.

Muslims. Yeah. You name the group. Doesn't matter. What we are supposed to do is think that all of the problems that we face, which are many today, they're the fault of a particular minority. And today that minority is the undocumented people in this country. The vast majority of whom came to this country same way for the same reason that my father came to this country without a nickel in his pocket to escape poverty to provide a better life for their children. All right, that's why they came here. And the vast majority are working hard and during COVID to a significant degree it was undocumented people working in meatacking plants, working in daycare, working in nursing home, getting exposed to the virus, trying to raise their kids. But Trump, like all Demagogues, sees an opportunity to divide us up to ferment hatred.

And the major point that I want to make today is we have got to do exactly the opposite of what Trump is trying to do. He wants to divide us up. We got to bring our people together. If there is one lesson that I hope humanity has learned, it doesn't matter whether you're black or white, Latino or Muslim or Jewish or Asian or whatever, gay or straight. We share a common humanity. We have the same dreams and the same hopes for our children. And we cannot let demagogues divide us up. Got to stand together.

But the other thing that we have to do in my view and I have been again I have been all over this country and it's been an honor. It really has been an honor and a privilege to do that. I want to tell you a story. Uh few months ago, maybe three or four months ago now, I went to West Virginia and I went to West Virginia because that was the state that gave Trump I think something like 70% of the vote and I went to a county in West Virginia that gave him the largest vote. I think it was like 74%. I deliberately went there and I wanted to see what's going on. Why were these folks in a poor state voting for Donald Trump? And we had a meeting. I don't know if we had maybe as many people here. Large number of people came out. A very rural county.

They are struggling with the same issues you are struggling with in North Carolina. We are struggling with in Vermont. They can't afford health care. Their health care system is a disaster. Their kids are not getting the education that they want. Their wages are abysmally low. But they had no alternative because the Democratic Party in West Virginia virtually does not exist. And that is true all over this country to one degree or another. People are hurting. They want an alternative. And for too many years, the Democratic Party leadership and establishment has not provided that alternative.

So the challenges that we face is we have got to be and politics is hard. You know anyone who thinks this a very simple and you condemn somebody and I get attacked every day. You didn't do this, you didn't do that. You got to be balanced. I think a million things. One of the things clearly the major issue that we got to unite everybody including establishment Democrats who doing a pretty good job fighting Trump right we've got election coming up in a little while some of you have heard about that and it is absolutely imperative and I think we have a reasonably good chance to make sure that we rest control of the House and maybe the Senate from Republicans.

But we have got to do more than that. We've got to ask ourselves, why is it that millions of workingass people voted for Trump? Are some of them racist or sexist or homophobes? Yes. But I think they are the minority. I think people are desperately looking for an alternative and we have got to bring forth an alternative that makes sense to everybody. So what am I talking about? Number one, we have got to create a vibrant democracy. That means getting rid of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision. It means everybody in America, and the Republicans are working really hard in the wrong direction. Everybody in America has the opportunity to vote, whether you're black or white or Latino, young or old. I want to see this country have the highest voter turnout of any country on earth.

If you are a worker in the wealthiest country on earth, you need to be making a living wage, not a starvation wage. And I want to thank the trade union movement for helping us lead the way to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. In my view, $18 an hour is what workers should be earning on minimum. We need to make it easier for workers to join unions, which is why we need to pass the PRO act. And we need to do something to end what is clearly an embarrassment. Question. Does the American health care system work?

No. Okay. And the answer is you're right. No matter where you go, I've asked this question in every state in the country. Nobody thinks that the current healthcare system is working. Just some facts. We are now spending, if you can believe this, and I don't want you to deal with this one. If you lump all of our health care expenditures, what you are paying out of pocket, what your employer is paying, what Medicare spends, what Medicaid spends, what the VA spends, we had all of our healthc care expenditures, we're spending over $15,000 for every man, woman, and child. You got that? A family of four, $60,000.

Now when you that happens to be about twice as much per capita as the people in other countries are spending. I live 50 miles away from the Canadian border and they are spending about half as much per person as we spend. Yet somehow they managed to provide health care to every man, woman and child in their country without out- of- pocket expense. and so does virtually every other major country. We have got to end the disgrace of being the only major country on earth that does not guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right.

And I know that Nita and many others are determined to make that fight. Now I just want you when we talk about America in the future, think for a moment. What is it? What would it mean if every person in this room and every family member of yours when they get sick or they wanted an examination or god forbid they ended up in the hospital, they did not have to worry about bills. Would that be an enormous load off people's shoulders? Do you know something like this is how insane the situation is. Something like 40% of Americans who get diagnosed with cancer, 40% go bankrupt or lose their homes in the first two years of their care.

Can you imagine losing your home or going bankrupt because you got cancer? How insane is that? Right. So the American people are with us. Poll after poll shows the American people believe in universal healthcare. Let us fight together for a Medicare for all singlepayer program.

We must expand. Look at we should we should Thank you. Actually, I was going to get to it. and indeed to be interrupted to talk about. It's right on my list, as a matter of fact. All right. What we need also at a time when many Republicans literally want to cut Social Security benefits, we need to expand Social Security benefits. And how do we do it? What is the easiest way to do that? Anyone know? you you lift the cap. Exactly. Right now, I can't remember what the number is. It's probably 160 170,000. So, if you makeund it's approximate 170,000 a year, you are paying the same amount into the Social Security trust fund as somebody making $10 million a year. That's crazy. You lift that cap, we can expand Social Security benefits and extend Social Security for 75 years.

We have got to instead in my view right now if you can believe it we are spending a trillion dollars a year on the military. Now maybe instead of spending a trillion dollars a year we can take some of that money and build the millions of units of low-income and affordable housing this country desperately needs. And here's a very radical idea which turns out not to be so radical after all. And I know I speak here amidst major and great universities. But you know, if we want to have the best educated workforce in the world in a competitive global economy, it might be a good idea to make it easier for our young people to get the education they need from child care to graduate school.

Some of you may not know this, but 70 years ago, great universities like University of California, uh, City University of New York, Brooklyn College, where my brother went to, and state colleges around the country, you know how much it cost to go there tuition,

right? So ask yourself how it could be that 70 years ago we had free tuition at very great universities and colleges and today depending on the school 60 70 $80,000 a year. It is not a radical idea to do what we did 70 years ago what countries around the world are doing make public colleges and universities tuitionfree. And by the way, at a time when we desperately need more doctors, nurses, psychologists, pharmacists, healthc care providers, we should be making medical school and nursing school, etc. tuitionfree.

And then people say, "Well, Bernie, those are nice ideas. Those are nice ideas. How you going to pay for them? Well, that's a good question. I'm glad you asked it. At a time when the billionaire class or many billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than a truck driver or a nurse, yeah, not only are we going to demand that the billionaires start paying their fair share of taxes, we're going to move toward a wealth tax on billionaires.

So brothers and sisters, I have I know uh talked about a lot of stuff uh this afternoon and bottom line is this is a tough time for our country and if you feel a little bit overwhelmed, you're not alone. But I do want to just conclude by reminding you that this is not the first time the people of our country have faced difficult times. You know, we kind of romanticize the Revolutionary War, but yet a small number of people who took on the entire British Empire, many thousands of them. It was a lot bloodier than people think, died in order to defend what they said in the Declaration that all men are created equal and entitled.

I'm very entitled are endowed with you know all help me out here. All people are created with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. All right, there you go. Get nervous in front of the crowd. All right. Uh that was pretty good for the 1770s. And since that time, you know, the struggle has continued to make this country more democratic. a horrible uh civil war to finally end the abomination of slavery. Struggle for women's rights so that women were not secondass citizens. The struggle during the depression when 25% of our people were unemployed and they elect people elected a government which kind of began to work for them changed their nature of what the federal government did. Don't forget that as recently as 1941 when the United States was attacked uh by Japan, we were unprepared to fight two wars in the east and in Europe. And in a few years because the country came together, women went to work in the factories, men

went off and died in Europe and in Asia. We saved democracy from Nazism and fascism. All right. So my point about all of this is we have gone through difficult times before. workers standing up to their bosses getting mowed down in order to fight for union rights and decent wages and all that stuff. Not the first difficult moment. And what I believe absolutely is that if we stand together, again, I got to tell you this, having been all over this country, the average American believes in democracy, wants us to oppose authoritarianism. And by the way, I want to just mention this in passing. Just the other day, uh about a dozen or so folks from Minnesota came into my office and they are and these are people who are at the cutting edge of taking on ICE with extraordinary not only they were black and brown and white.

The whole community came together led by unions in many respects to protect the children. I mean, what I heard would bring tears to your eyes. The psychic damage, helicopters flying above, doors being smashed in, children can't go to school, workers can't go out and earn a living. So, I, you know, we should appreciate the heroic heroism of our brothers and sisters in Minneapolis.

So bottom line is look bottom line is these are tough times and you got a president who in many ways is becoming less and less popular is polling numbers are going down which probably will make them more and more desperate. All right. But if we stand together, we work with our brothers and sisters, we demand that this country remains a democracy, that we have a government that works for all and not the billionaire class, that we have an economy that provides decent wages and jobs for our people. If we stand together and keep our eyes on the prize, we're going to win this thing.

Thank you all very much. Heat. Heat.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "LIVE: BERNIE LEADS MASSIVE RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA!!"?

Wesley Not (Guest), Nida Alam (Host), Bernie Sanders (Host).

What is "LIVE: BERNIE LEADS MASSIVE RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA!!" about?

The speech at the massive rally in North Carolina emphasizes the power of the labor movement in advocating for workers' rights and economic justice, highlighting the historical struggle against corporate control and the need for solidarity among working-class individuals. It calls for collective action to organize workplaces and encourages participation in the political process, urging attendees…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Nida Alam, Bernie Sanders, North Carolina AFL CIO, Elon Musk, Durham County, Wesley Not. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "LIVE: BERNIE LEADS MASSIVE RALLY IN NORTH CAROLINA!!"?

The episode runs 1 h 25 min; the transcript is about 10,306 words in 100 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 15, 2026.