Sen. Sanders tackles corporations, Trump

from Dana Larsen at Storm Lake Pilot Tribune



"I think we have a real shot to win in Iowa. To win in New Hampshire. And if we win in Iowa and New Hampshire, I believe we have a real shot to transform the United States of America," Bernie Sanders thundered to a crowd of nearly 200 at Buena Vista University Tuesday morning.

The Democrat candidate for president was all business - no jokes, no homey stories, no meet-and-greet lines. After brief introductions by a Storm Lake small business owner and a student preparing to vote for the first time, Sanders strode straight to the podium to a few bars from an early Bruce Springsteen tune. "Wherever this flag's flown, we take care of our own," the chorus repeats.

In the one brief moment of levity the candidate allowed, he told the crowd he would "chat for five or six hours" before asking for questions. He said he felt momentum in his favor, coming off a gathering of 1,200 supporters in Sioux City the night before, and plans to spend much of the next six weeks heading into the Iowa Caucuses campaigning all around the state. He suggests his message is resonating with an electorate that has become alienated from its government.

In response to a question, he spoke briefly on his background, growing up in a "three-and-a-half-room" apartment in Brooklyn, neither of his parents college-educated.

"I never occurred to me that I would be in Storm Lake, Iowa one day, running for president. It's not in my DNA," he said, suggesting that in "normal times" among leadership, he would not have needed to run. He took clear pride in saying that he has been the longest-serving independent in Congress in U.S. history.

The candidate stressed that his run is being funded by small donors - almost a million people and 2.3 million total donations averaging $30, which he said was better that President Obama had done at the same point in his first campaign.

He said that when he decided to run, he was told he had to have a Super PAC to collect money from big donors. "We decided not to do that. I don't represent the corporations, the billionaires. We don't want their money... they don't like me, and they are going to like me even less if I am elected."





"Trump is a demagogue. What demagogues do is play on people's fears as a society," he said.

Sanders said that Trump is arguing that a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for the country. "I guess if you are a billionaire, it is okay," Sanders jabbed.

"Wages are too high in America? Really Mr. Trump? Let's raise minimum wage to a living wage," he said, interrupted by applause...

He also bashed Trump on immigration policy. "Somehow in the middle of the night he wants to pick up 11 million people and throw them out of the country. That's not going to happen, and it shouldn't happen," Sanders said.

He calls for the undocumented immigrants in the country now to be made citizens as soon as possible, and for Congress to pass a sweeping reform package including a future path to citizenship as opposed to deportation. "Our purpose is to unite families, not divide families."

He said he went to a mosque recently, and found Muslim residents are living in fear of hate attacks and being scapegoated. Parents of Muslim faith are being forced to explain why they are being ill treated to their children. "This is not what America is all about," he said.


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