 So lately Bernie Sanders has been criticized more than usual by the left and it's because he currently has tunnel vision. He is just looking to November 3rd and he wants to make sure that Donald Trump is defeated. And you know I talked about this when I was on Savage Joy's program and Bernie Sanders it seems like he blames himself for Donald Trump's victory in 2016. Even though that's completely irrational I don't think that he is responsible for Trump's victory. You know maybe he feels as if he played some responsibility. He shouldn't blame himself but he does. So you know this time he wants to make sure that there's no doubts, there's no way that any centrists are able to blame him for Trump's victory should he win again. But we all know that there's nothing that he can say or do to convince them. They're going to blame him no matter what. We know that the narrative has already been predetermined. If Joe Biden wins that's going to be proof that centrism is more popular and makes candidates more electorally viable. But if Joe Biden loses of course will be blamed because Joe Biden was pushed too far left by individuals like Bernie Sanders and AOC and whatnot. So you know there's nothing that Bernie Sanders can say or do to convince centrists that he's not the enemy because these are bad faith actors. And you know this is intra-party warfare. They're on one side Bernie's on another. He's trying to remake the party and a lot of these blue check mark grifters just want to make sure that the status quo remains in place so they can get a job in DC. But having said that you know it's made Bernie Sanders kind of insufferable in some ways admittedly. Because he won't criticize Joe Biden. And I get it you don't want to say anything that might tip the scales in Trump's favor. But I think that Hassan Piker described it best when he was speaking at the DNC convention that this is basically like watching Cuckpoorn to see Bernie Sanders you know have to puff up Joe Biden. When we all know Joe Biden is neoliberal centrist. He's not going to be someone who's able to meet this moment. And hence why we were all you know behind Bernie Sanders. But in an interview with TYT Bernie Sanders spoke with Jank Jueger and Anika Sperian. And this interview was great because Bernie Sanders told us what we needed to hear what I expected. I told people on Twitter Bernie is probably going to be difficult to listen to until after the election because he's not going to say anything bad about Joe Biden. But that doesn't mean that all of a sudden he's going to be a cheerleader for Joe Biden. In fact in this interview Bernie Sanders laid out pretty specifically that he is going to criticize Joe Biden. He is going to pressure Joe Biden. And the reason why this is important is because Bernie Sanders was really effective at pressuring the Obama administration. So when Obama was going to come up with this grand bargain to cut Social Security it was Bernie Sanders who stopped that from happening. So we don't want Bernie Sanders to like plug his ears and cover his eyes and pretend like Joe Biden is perfect because Trump is so terrible. He may be doing that right now but long term Bernie Sanders is our ally. Bernie Sanders is fighting for what's right. And he reassured us of that in this interview which I was very happy to see. If Biden does win he's going to push for public option. Obviously you're in favor of Medicare for all. Where does that leave you? Do you support him in pushing forward the public option? Is there a progressive pushback and fight for Medicare for all in a Biden administration? Well I will tell you where it leaves me. Everything being equal. If the Democrats gain control over the Senate I want to remind all of the viewers. Of course the presidential election is enormously important. Do not forget about the Senate. Democrats stand a reasonable chance of gaining control of the Senate. If they do, Cenk, I will be the chairman of the subcommittee on health. And let me tell my good friends in the healthcare industry and the pharmaceutical industry. But if I get that position, and I believe I will, your world is going to change. So of course we're going to continue to push for Medicare for all. Now the bill that I presented was a four year transition. I didn't go to Medicare for all in one day because I don't think you can do that. In the first year, Biden now wants to see the eligibility age for Medicare go from 65 down to 60. There hasn't been enough discussion on that. That's important. The first year of my bill four year transition has it go down to 55. So in the first year what I would like to see is just lower that age to 55 and cover all of the kids in America on year one. That is something I certainly will be pushing on. I will also be pushing to make absolutely clear that we end the outrageous collusion and price fixing of the pharmaceutical industry. And that the people of our country do not pay higher prices for prescription drugs than the people of any other country on earth. Also on that committee, which I will be number two of the Health Education Labor Committee, pension committee, we will pass a $15 an hour minimum wage. And what I'm working on, Cenk and Anna right now, is what I call a 100 day proposal. I want Democrats to come out of that gate very, very rapidly. It is not business as usual. We count. We don't have six months to study an issue. We know what we have to do for the American people in education, in climate change, in the economy, in healthcare. Let's do it. Let us try to restore the confidence of the American people in the political process. Let them know that there are some of us who are fighting for the working class of this country and we are going to deliver. So that was a great interview. That is exactly what we all needed to hear, even if it's not necessarily surprising, even if we know Bernie Sanders for purposes of political expedience. He was biting his tongue because he didn't want to criticize Biden and end up inadvertently helping Trump. Like we knew that he would do this. It's just, it's nice to hear him say it. Like I think a lot of people are currently holding their fire and biting their tongues. But the minute Joe Biden wins, you're going to see him bombarded with criticism from the left because everybody is pretty realistic about what to expect from Joe Biden. I don't see very many pro-Biden individuals. I see anti-Trump people that recognize Biden is just a means to an end, that end being ousting Donald Trump. But everybody knows like we can't go back to brunch. So what do we do? Well, Bernie Sanders said, I'm working on a 100-day proposal. It is not going to be business as usual. So what he's telling us, what he's assuring us is he's going to fight. All right, that's what I wanted to hear. I think that a lot of people wanted to hear that. And again, it's not surprising, but it's just nice to get that, you know, reaffirmed from the horse's mouth. He says, he'll be the chairman of the subcommittee on health. If Democrats take back the Senate, that sounds phenomenal. He will continue to push for Medicare for all and try to influence Biden on this. Now, this is important because Bernie Sanders has a lot of influence. And so if the left just by itself tries to rise up and do grassroots action, I mean, we saw what happened during Occupy Wall Street. There was no leadership. But this time, if there's leadership, that gives us at least a little bit more of a chance to influence this administration or at least stop him from doing the most harmful things he plans on doing. He says, we'll pass a $15 minimum wage. Okay. And then he also says, we don't have six months to study an issue. We know what we have to do for the American people. This is important because we have to assume Democrats have two years, two years of power if they take back the Senate and the White House. That's it. After that, you're going to lose one of the houses of government. Assume that you will. If that happens, that's it. Your window to act has been closed. So if you do not change things substantially, change the material conditions in this country, then we're going to see probably a worse version of Donald Trump in 2024. I mean, currently Tom Cotton is laying the groundwork for a presidential run. He is worse than Donald Trump. He is a fascist who actually doesn't put his foot in his mouth, who's actually going to be more effective at getting fascist things done. So, you know, if you want people to not be lured into fascism and white supremacy, you have to make sure that they're not susceptible to that type of radicalization and not desperate. So you have to change the material conditions to make it less likely that some demagogue will come along and say, hey, here's the answer to all of your problems. We have to stop that. And you stop that by doing things that help people. Now, I'll be perfectly honest to the extent that the left is able to push Joe Biden to the left, not really optimistic about that. In fact, I don't think we're going to push him left because we have an extensive history that we can look at with regard to Joe Biden and see he is governed as a moderate Republican. So when he is in power, I expect him to basically be a moderate Republican. Having said that, though, that doesn't mean that we don't try to push him left. We don't just say, oh, well, he's a moderate Republican. Surprise, surprise. No, we give him hell. We make sure that the minute he is sworn in, we are on his ass like stank on shit. You're not going to get a pass. You wanted this job. The establishment moved heaven and earth to make sure you were president and not Bernie Sanders. So now you better put the fuck up. You're not going to have a fun time. And so we might not be able to pressure you. But still, we will be a thorn in your side for the entirety of your tenure as president. If you are lucky enough to get elected may not influence you, but we're going to try. Now, another thing that is interesting with regard to Bernie Sanders and a Biden presidency is Bernie Sanders is currently positioning himself for a position in Biden's cabinet. He wants to be labor secretary. Now, I don't know how I feel about this. I think I'm leaning towards please don't do it, Bernie, but let's go to some details here. Politico reports Senator Bernie Sanders is hoping to be part of Joe Biden's potential administration and has expressed a particular interest in becoming labor secretary. Two people familiar with the conversations tell Politico, I can confirm he's trying to figure out how to land that role or something like it said one person close to the Vermont senator. He personally does have an interest in it. Sanders on Wednesday declined to confirm or deny that he's putting his name forward for the position. Right now, I am focused on seeing that Biden is elected president, he told Politico. That's what my main focus is. Former Sanders campaign manager, Fosh Shakir, said Sanders has not talked directly with anyone on the Biden campaign about a future role, but plans to push Biden, his former senate colleague, to include progressive voices in both a transition and in a potential new administration. Yet, two other people close to Sanders, including one former aide, said the senator has expressed interest in being in the administration should Biden win in November. Sanders has been making his push for the top job at the Labor Department in part by reaching out to allies on the transition team, one person familiar with the process said. I'm torn on this because on one hand, I think that Bernie Sanders has done so much to elect Joe Biden campaign for him more so than anyone else who's run for president that like he should be rewarded for it like Joe Biden should reward him for helping him get power. Having said that though, I don't think it's a good idea overall for Bernie Sanders to be Labor Secretary. Now I could be persuaded, I'm open minded, but Nathan J. Robinson I think had the best argument. If Bernie Sanders is part of a Biden administration, you've basically got to be a cheerleader. You're not going to be criticizing him and putting pressure on him. We don't want that. We want Bernie Sanders to actually put pressure on Joe Biden because out of all of the people who has a shot at influencing Joe Biden, it's Bernie Sanders. Not only would he be the most vocal, but he actually would have the most sway since he is a very popular politician. I don't like this idea. Now, on top of that, if Bernie Sanders is Labor Secretary and he's no longer a senator, so what happens there? We have no one in the Senate who's a true leftist. I mean, you have other people who are alright. Jeff Merkley's okay. Ed Markey. Pretty good. Elizabeth Warren. Not good. I mean, she has her moments. She's not the worst Democrat, but not a leader by any stretch of the imagination. So if you remove Bernie Sanders from the Senate, then who's going to introduce Medicare for All? Who's going to push Senate Democrats to do the right thing? It just, I don't like it. It almost is like he'd be silenced in a way if he became the Labor Secretary, even if admittedly he can do a lot of good in that position. Now, AOC was asked about this in an interview with Jake Tapper. Here's what she had to say. Politico is reporting that Senator Bernie Sanders, who you endorsed for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders has expressed an interest in potentially serving as Biden's Labor Secretary if Biden wins the White House. How crucial is it to the progressive movement that Biden offers an important position to Bernie Sanders in a Biden cabinet? Should that happen? Should Biden win? Well, what I think is extremely important and what I think what a lot of people kind of misunderstand about the progressive movement is that it wasn't a slogan when Bernie ran on saying, not me, us. And so it's not just about where Bernie Sanders is next term or what role that Senator Sanders is playing, but it's really about who the Biden administration is choosing to lead agencies across the board. And I am not familiar personally with any of Senator Sanders' requests or non-request. I do not know personally about the veracity of this, but I believe that it's critically important that the Biden administration appoint progressive leaders, whether it's in labor, whether it's in the Treasury, whether it's Secretary of Education, et cetera, because the fact of the matter is that this isn't just about the progressive movement. This is about making sure that we're not just going back to how things were and rewinding the tape before the Trump administration, but this is about making sure how are we going to not just make up for lost time, but leap into the future and actually ensure that we are making the investments and policy decisions that will create an advanced American society. And frankly, conservative appointments will not get us there. So what she's saying, I totally agree with, like if you don't actually change the material conditions that led to Donald Trump, we're going to see another turnover in four years, maybe eight years. But either way, we can expect an even worse, Trumpian-like figure to come along, another demagogue who's going to do even more damage because there are fascists who are more competent than Donald Trump who want power. So what AOC is saying here is just appointing conservatives with bad ideas. That's not an option if you're serious about fixing the country. So if it's not Bernie Sanders or progressives in your administration, then at a minimum, putting Republicans in your administration would be beyond idiotic. So why would you do that when this party is a far-right extremist party? Why would you let their bad ideas influence you even if it's a little bit? I mean, Joe Biden is basically a moderate Republican. So there's one Republican. Don't need any more in your administration. So at the end of the day, you know, the real work starts once Joe Biden is elected and to the extent that we can pressure him, we should do that. We should try. But really, I think that this is going to be a test for the left. This is going to be, you know, a period of time where we focused on coalition building. We try to grow our power, you know, reform the systems electorally where we can institutionally. We do what we can, but we have four years to act. And what we're getting is a short-lived victory. We have to actually fix the conditions that led to Donald Trump. Otherwise, we're not really fixing anything. We're just giving ourselves a temporary break from fascism. But we need to stop fascism permanently because I don't think the planet can take another four years of a fascist president.