Sanders: Trump hasn’t shored up working class
Campaign stop at Gary Genesis Center part of 4-day Midwest tour
Sen. Bernie Sanders swung through Gary on Saturday with a message for working class voters who helped usher Donald Trump into the presidency.
“I want your vote,” he said. During a visit to the Gary Genesis Center, the Vermont senator said Trump failed to live up to promises made to protect them and stabilize the middle class.
“What angers me about Donald Trump is that he said in so many words he would stand up for the working class of this country and he would take on the establishment,” he said. “Well, he ended up appointing more billionaires to his cabinet than any president in American history.”
His 40-minute remarks were part of a four-day Rust Belt tour that started Friday in Madison, Wis. It is scheduled to end with a Fox News town hall in Bethlehem, Pa., on Monday.
“I think I can understand why people voted for Trump, I got that,” Sanders said. “We have a president who is a pathological liar. He lies almost every day.”
The visit appeared to be twofold: sending a message to working class voters who turned to Trump in the last election while reaching out to black voters, a weakness for Sanders during the 2016 Democratic primaries.
Sanders lost the 2016 Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton.
The Gary Genesis Center event included a panel of about three dozen people, including city staffers, activists, health care professionals and a steelworker. Among them were Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, City Council President Ron Brewer, Calumet Township Trustee Kim Robinson, East Chicago activist Tom Frank, steelworker Terry Steagall and physician Nathaniel Ross.
Sanders took a series of questions on unemployment, education, health care, the environment and trade before beginning his remarks.
Attendees asked about college alternatives and workforce training for youth, doctor shortages and difficulties providing health care with lower Medicare reimbursement rates.
Sanders, 77, spoke on recurring campaign themes such as ending corporate tax breaks, supporting unions and hiking the minimum wage.
He also addressed economic inequality, health care access, jobs, universal child care, free tuition at public universities and climate change.
“I know what I’m saying kinda sounds radical, but we are the
wealthiest country in the world, and we need a government that starts working for working people,” Sanders said to big applause.
A priority for the federal government should be on distressed cities like Gary, with higher poverty rates, child poverty rates and unemployment, he said.
“We’ve got to give people hope and that means rebuilding communities,” Sanders said.
In a steel town that has suffered from the decline of industry, Sanders also touted his opposition to North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s while serving in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
“You are looking at somebody that not only voted against NAFTA when I was in the House, but ... on the picket line with trade unions in opposition,” he said.
Freeman-Wilson thanked Sanders for the visit. She was a national delegate for Clinton in 2016. Sanders lost Lake County to Clinton by 13 points. He won Porter County by 17, according to voting records.
Like Detroit, Gary faces struggles after the decline of its founding industry, similar to challenges that pop up in rural communities, Freeman-Wilson said.
“We appreciate you highlighting the issues of legacy cities,” she said. “What that essentially means is that we gave a lot to this country and we have been faced with a lot of challenges.”
Sanders’ visit to the Gary Genesis Center was officially closed to the public.
Colleen Hamilton, of Gary, was one of a handful of folks who showed up outside to give their support. They were let into the event with media and panelists.
She said she supported Sanders because of his “Medicare for All” pledge.
After his visit to Gary, Sanders headed to Michigan on a tour of expected Midwest battleground states.
“Gary will remain in my heart,” Sanders said.
“I know what I’m saying kinda sounds radical, but we are the wealthiest country in the world, and we need a government that starts working for working people.”
— U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic presidential candidate