meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Ezra Klein Show

An Unusually Optimistic Conversation With Bernie Sanders

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Government, News

4.611K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Bernie Sanders didn’t win the 2020 election. But he may have won its aftermath. If you look back at Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders’s careers, the $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan, looks a lot like the proposals Sanders has fought for forever, without much of the compromise or concerns that you used to see from Senator Joe Biden. That’s not to take anything away from Biden. He’s the president. This is his plan. And it is to his credit that he saw what the country needed, what the politics of the moment would support and where his party had moved, and met it with full force. But Sanders’s two presidential campaigns are part of the reason that the Democratic Party had moved, and the politics of the moment had changed. And so I’ve wondered what Sanders makes of this moment. Is it a triumph? A disappointment? A beginning? And I’ve wondered about his take on some of the other questions swirling around the Democratic Party: Are liberals alienating people who agree with them on economics by being too censorious on culture? Is there room to work with populist Republicans who might be open to new economic ideas even as they turn against liberal democracy itself? You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of "The Ezra Klein Show" at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. “The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Rogé Karma and Jeff Geld; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm Mr. Klein and this is the Ezra Clancho.

0:19.2

There were times, so many times, during 2020 election.

0:22.8

When I was pretty certain, Senator Bernie Sanders was going to win the Democratic primary

0:26.7

and then win the presidential and we're going to have the first Democratic socialist

0:30.8

president in this country.

0:33.0

He didn't win the primary, but he might have won the Democratic party.

0:37.0

If you look back at the course of Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders' careers, the $1.9 trillion

0:42.5

American Rescue Plan that just passed, it looks a lot like the proposal Sanders has fought

0:47.2

for forever.

0:48.6

Without much of the compromise or concerns of political viability that you used to see

0:54.3

from Senator Joe Biden.

0:56.6

That's not, I want to be real clear, to take anything away from Biden here.

1:00.5

He is the president, this is his plan crafted by his administration, and it is fully to

1:05.5

his credit.

1:06.5

Did he see what the country needed?

1:08.0

He saw what the politics of the moment would support.

1:10.8

He saw where his party had moved and he met all of that with full force.

1:14.0

I give Joe Biden full credit here, but I've wondered what Senator Sanders makes of this

1:18.6

moment too.

1:19.8

He lost the election, but in important ways he really did win the argument.

1:23.7

This $1,400 checks in the center of the rescue plan, that was in large part driven by a Bernie

1:29.6

Sanders proposal, which he pushed in concert then with Senator Josh Hawley.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York Times Opinion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York Times Opinion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.