Bernie Sanders unapologetic about private jet use on anti-oligarchy tour



Rather than idle in one of his three houses, millionaire Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been traveling around the country for his Fighting Oligarchy Tour, hitting Americans up for money and giving speeches with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other fellow travelers on "how we move forward to take on the oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country."

When pressed Wednesday about the optics of taking a private jet around the country to complain about poverty and inequality, Sanders stated emphatically that he would not apologize for avoiding the alternative modes of travel used by everyday Americans.

Citing campaign expenditures released last month, the Washington Free Beacon indicated that Sanders' main campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, which manages the Fighting Oligarchy Tour, spent $221,723 on chartering private jets during the first quarter of 2025.

Some of the flights taken by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez on the "Fighting Oligarchy Tour" were reportedly worth $15,000 an hour.

Where Sanders is concerned, this is par for the course.

In the final three months of 2019, Sanders' campaign spent nearly $1.2 million on a luxury private jet charter service — not a good look for someone critical of the wealthy and supposedly concerned about the supposed threat of climate change.

'You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United waiting?'

During an interview Wednesday, Fox News' Bret Baier asked the self-described democratic socialist to respond to the Beacon's report concerning his jet travel.

Sanders initially tried to neutralize the question with some whataboutery, suggesting that President Donald Trump — who has made no claim to being a socialist — has not and would not fly commercial while in "campaign mode."

"But he's also not fighting the oligarchy," said Baier.

"You run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week. [It is] the only way you can get around to talk to 30,000 people," said Sanders. "You think I'm gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United waiting? You know, while 30, 000 people are waiting?"

'Socialism for you, luxury for him.'

Sanders stressed that private jet travel was "the only way to get around."

"No apologies for that," continued the senator. "That's what campaign travel is about. We've done it in the past. We're gonna do it in the future."

— (@)

"I think at a time when the people on top are doing phenomenally well, when seniors, working-class people are struggling, people want to hear action to stand up to the people who have the wealth and the power and create an economy that works for all of us, not just the people on top," Sanders told Baier.

Critics seized upon Sanders' comments as another example of his apparent hypocrisy.

"Ironic that a self proclaimed socialist doesn't like to stand in line since that's what people do in socialist countries. It's just for food, gas, and medical attention — not flights on United," tweeted former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R).

All-American swim star Riley Gaines noted, "The socialist who rails against the wealthy flies private and scoffs at flying commercial — socialism for you, luxury for him."

Sanders admitted during his October appearance on the "Lex Fridman Podcast" that it is easy for politicians to lose touch with everyday Americans and their priorities, noting that "it's a very easy trap to fall into — you can get separated from ordinary people and their struggle."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'I don't want this entitled person on my team': Shedeur Sanders was passed on because of his attitude, NFL insiders claim



Shedeur Sanders fell off the draft board of nearly every team because of his arrogance and attitude, NFL insiders have reported.

Former NFL quarterback turned analyst Boomer Esiason said NFL owners told their teams to take Sanders off their draft boards after he "torpedoed himself."

'I think he was very off putting to many, many coaches and general managers in the league.'

Esiason echoed what many reporters and analysts have been saying about Sanders, the son of NFL legend Deion, in that the young quarterback's attitude off the field and at the NFL Combine was what dropped him from a first-round draft pick to a fifth. By most accounts, Sanders was lucky to be drafted even then.

"When you listen to this kid talk, prior or at the Combine, about 'if you want a new culture in your locker room, I'm the guy to do that, I can turn it around.' I mean, he's very high on himself, and I think he was very off-putting, off-putting to many, many coaches and general managers in the league," Esiason said on WFAN660 radio. "I'm telling you right now — and I know this after talking to three different personnel people in the NFL this weekend — they didn't even have him on their board. They took him off, and they took him off because the owner said, 'Take him off.'"

Relaying what he was told owners had said, Esiason recalled, "'I don't want that guy. I don't want this entitled person on our team,' and I don't blame them."

Shedeur Sanders speaks to the media during the 2025 NFL Combine despite not participating. Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter had a similar report from his conversations with NFL staff members. On the "Fully Loaded" podcast, Carter said there were many factors that hurt Sanders' draft ranking.

Not only did Carter feel it was a disservice for Sanders to not participate in the NFL Draft Combine, but also his attitude in his interviews, his media statements, and his father's advocation hurt his image with teams. According to Carter, Sanders may have hurt his chances with many teams in the future, as well, because of his attitude, as general managers and coaches will remember their first interaction with him.

"Let me tell you what he understands today, OK?" Carter explained. "He ain't running s**t, OK? Let me tell you what, they taught him a great lesson. Like, you don't have this figured out, your dad don't have this figured out."

Despite President Trump advocating for Sanders' talent and bloodline, critics seem to agree that Sanders was the author of his own demise.

CBS Sports NFL reporter Jonathan Jones said Sanders "sandbagged" several of his interviews and "did not give it his all" in meetings with teams he did not think would draft him, which "rubbed some teams the wrong way."

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero said an assistant coach told him that Sanders conducted "the worst formal interview" he had ever witnessed in his life.

The assistant coach used a now all-too-familiar term, "entitled," to describe Sanders, and he added that he has "horrible body language," "blames teammates," and actually is "not that good," Pelissero relayed, per Yahoo Sports.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Are they STUPID?' Trump mocks NFL owners for not picking Shedeur Sanders in first round of NFL Draft



A star-studded NFL Draft left viewers shocked when Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL great Deion Sanders, went unselected in the widely televised first round.

The massive event outside Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, featured thousands of fans in attendance and celebrity appearances. The draft even kicked off with former Green Bay Packers star Clay Matthews reading an alleged letter from President Trump.

On stage, Matthews opened an envelope and said, "So let me tell you what it reads here, all right? It says, 'My fellow Americans, the Bears still suck!'"

It turned out, however, that the president was watching and was not exactly happy with how things turned out. As Colorado's Sanders remained undrafted, Trump took to Truth Social on day two of the NFL Draft to voice his displeasure with NFL owners.

"What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?" Trump wrote. "Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He's also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be 'picked' IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!"

Sanders was eventually selected in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns and took to his own social media to write, "Thank you GOD."

The young quarterback did not let his emotions get the best of him, even though he seemingly had every right to.

Sanders was expected by most to be a first-round draft choice; the athlete even had an entire set and draft party set up in anticipation of that fact. The set featured a shelf of prospective teams' hats, an interview area, and customized everything.

To make matters worse, Sanders was the victim of a prank draft call; the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich admitted to taking the players' number off an open iPad belonging to his father and using it to pose as the New Orleans Saints general manager in a call to Sanders.

Unfortunately, this is is quite common, and multiple players said they had received prank calls about being drafted, according to ESPN.

— (@)

Why did it take so long?

Sanders was expected, at worst, to be a second-round pick. However, ESPN's Pete Thamel said that most teams did not think of him as a first-round talent and did not think he had NFL rhythm.

"They wanted to see him more throwing in rhythm," Thamel said. "They wanted to see him show a little bit more athleticism. He's considered a mediocre athlete who didn't have enough film that they thought immediately translated."

CBS Sports NFL reporter Jonathan Jones said, though, that Sanders "sandbagged" several of his NFL interviews. Jones claimed that Sanders "did not give it his all" in meetings with teams he did not think would draft him, which "rubbed some teams the wrong way."

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero echoed similar sentiments and said an NFL assistant coach told him that Sanders conducted "the worst formal interview" he had ever witnessed in his life.

"He's so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. ... But the biggest thing is, he's not that good," Pelissero relayed, per Yahoo Sports.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'They do that to our president': Shilo Sanders compares himself to President Trump, says media tries to destroy him



University of Colorado Boulder senior Shilo Sanders said he has a lot of haters who want to portray him inaccurately, just like President Trump.

Sanders is coached at Colorado by his father, Hall of Fame football player Deion Sanders, along with his younger brother, Shedeur. The 24-year-old has faced consistent criticism since his father took the helm of the team and has been accused of getting a push despite not being a good enough player.

That criticism appeared to hit a boiling point over the last week as Sanders prepared to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl, an All-Star game for the best college football players in the country to play in front of NFL scouts.

Before the game, a compilation video was released that purported to show Sanders struggling in practice reps against his fellow all-stars. The selective footage made its rounds on social media, with just three versions of the video on X totaling over 11 million viewers, for example.

According to Essentially Sports, media personality Dov Kleiman claimed that Sanders was "getting exposed" and that his "draft stock is tanking."

Sanders' older brother, Deion Jr., reacted to the claims and said media members were "sick in the head" for what they were saying.

'They do that to our president. They do that to everybody.'

Sanders' West team lost 25-0, and despite reports that he played fairly well, he had words for his critics after the game. When a reporter asked what he wanted people to know about the clips that had circulated, Sanders compared his treatment in the media to that of the president.

"If you just hate me or you want to hate me, paint me in a bad picture ... they do that to our president. They do that to everybody. You know?"

Sanders then said it can become bothersome when he his working hard but still receives criticism.

"I'm not gonna be safe from it. But it does get aggravating whenever you put in your work and you're working on your craft and people just steadily destroying you."

Sanders continued, "I just care about what the scouts say. I care about what Coach [Deion Sanders] thinks and my family thinks. And I got a good circle around me, so I really don't let that stuff affect me."

He concluded by calling the media reactions "really stupid" and added that people will "always just try to destroy you."

"I don't do nothing bad to nobody," he said.

The young defensive player said he will continue to get as strong and fast as possible ahead of the NFL Draft, which takes place April 24-26.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democrats Stump For Biden After Questioning His Cognitive Decline

Pelosi acknowledged concerns over Biden's mental and physical decline just last week.

Sen. Bernie Sanders calls for $17 per hour federal minimum wage, 32-hour work week



Leftist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pushing for a $17 per hour federal minimum wage, and he is also advocating for a 32-hour work week without any accompany decrease in pay for workers.

The current federal minimum wage is just $7.25 per hour, though some states have implemented their own minimum that is higher than the federally-mandated floor..

Sanders rejects the notion that those two policies represent radical ideas.

During remarks on Thursday, the left-wing lawmaker said that on June 14 the Senate HELP Committee will mark up a measure to increase the federal minimum wage to $17 per hour spread across a five-year period. Sanders serves as the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

JUST IN: Bernie Sanders Calls For $17 An Hour Minimum Wage youtu.be

The senator is also calling for a 32-hour work week, pushing the idea in an opinion piece.

"It's time to reduce the work week to 32 hours with no loss in pay. It's time to reduce the stress level in our country and allow Americans to enjoy a better quality of life. It's time to make sure that working people benefit from rapidly increasing technology, not just large corporations that are already doing phenomenally well," Sanders wrote.

"As much as technology and worker productivity has exploded in recent years, there is no debate that new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and robotics will only accelerate the transformation of our economy. That transformation should benefit all, not just the few. It should create more time for friends and family, more time for rest and relaxation, more time for all of us to develop our human potential," he wrote.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Gov. Sarah Sanders bans critical race theory and leftist indoctrination in Arkansas schools



Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has beaten one form of cancer. In her new role as Arkansas governor, she plans to tackle another.

Sanders issued an executive order on Tuesday designed to prevent leftist doctrinaires from peddling racial identity politics and leftist activism in schools.

Less Marx, better marks

Within hours of being sworn in to office on Tuesday, Sanders issued multiple executive orders countering leftist speech codes and conventions in the state, including one removing the use of the controversial term "Latinx" in government documents.

In another order "to prohibit indoctrination and critical race theory in schools," Sanders emphasized that the role of schools is to educate, not indoctrinate students. Similarly, teachers are tasked with teaching students how to think, not what to think.

Accordingly, schools' and teachers' days of peddling critical race theory are over.

Christopher Rufo noted in the New York Post that critical race theory was "formulated in the 1990s and built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism."

"Identity is the means; Marxism is the end," wrote Rufo. "Critical race theory prescribes a revolutionary program that would overturn the principles of the Declaration and destroy the remaining structure of the Constitution."

Sanders, who secured over 63% of the vote in the November gubernatorial election, will not allow Arkansas schools to be further weaponized against America.

She noted in her executive order, "Critical Race Theory (CRT) is antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness. It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject."

Critical race theory has no place in Arkansas schools, she suggested; particularly not when "the Constitution of the State of Arkansas and the Constitution of the United States of America recognize the equal value of every individual, and provide equal protection under the law, regardless of color, creed, race, ethnicity, sex, age, marital status, familial status, disability, religion, and national origin."

The governor's executive order requires that Arkansas' education secretary, Jacob Oliva, ensure that the his department and its employees, contractors, guest speakers, and lecturers are in compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Furthermore, any and all department rules, regulations, policies, materials, and communications must be reviewed to ensure that leftist discriminatory practices and critical race theory are expurgated.

Sanders' executive order echoes Florida's Individual Freedom Act, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law on April 22. The act prohibits "training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels" students or employees to believe the core tenets of critical race theory and comparable identitarian theories.

Sanders tweeted Thursday, "Under my leadership, schools will teach reading, writing, math, and science—and our children will learn that the identity that truly matters is the one we all share: our identity as children of God and citizens of the United States of America."

\u201cUnder my leadership, schools will teach reading, writing, math, and science\u2014and our children will learn that the identity that truly matters is the one we all share: our identity as children of God and citizens of the United States of America.\u201d
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@Sarah Huckabee Sanders) 1673547917

In her inaugural address, Sanders stated, "As long as I am governor, our schools will focus on the skills our children need to get ahead in the modern world, not brainwashing our children with a left-wing political agenda."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces run for Arkansas governor, taking aim at socialism, cancel culture



Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Monday that she is running to become the next governor of Arkansas.

What are the details?

In a video posted to her campaign website, the popular former Trump administration official took aim at "socialism and cancel culture" and claimed that America's governors will serve as the "last line of defense" against radical leftist tyranny.

"America is great because we are free, but today our freedom and the rule of law are under attack," Sanders said in the video. "I was the first White House press secretary to require Secret Service protection because of a credible, violent threat against me. We've seen violence in our streets, at a congressional baseball practice, and at our Capitol. This is not who we are as Americans."

"To remain free, we must have law and order and resolve our differences peacefully. The radical left's solution is to impose government control and censorship from the top down. But their socialism and cancel culture will not heal America, it will only further divide and destroy us," she added. "Everything we love about America is at stake, and with the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense. In fact, your governor must be on the front line, so today I announce my candidacy for governor of Arkansas and ask for your prayers and your support."

Sarah Huckabee Sanders for Governor youtu.be

"As governor, I will defend your right to be free from socialism and tyranny, your Second Amendment right to keep your family safe, and your freedom of speech and religious liberty. Our state needs a leader with the courage to do what's right, not what's politically correct or convenient. I took on the media, the radical left, and their cancel culture — and I won," Sanders continued. "As governor, I will be your voice and never let them silence you."

What else?

Sanders — whose father, Mike Huckabee, formerly served as governor of the state — is expected to immediately become the front-runner to replace Gov. Asa Hutchison as he faces term limits after eight years in office. She will now face off against Republican Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge in the primary contest.

The winner of the Republican primary is expected to be the favorite in the 2022 general election despite Arkansas having a history of electing Democratic governors, including former President Bill Clinton twice.

However, the state has become increasingly red in recent years. In the 2020 presidential election, President Donald Trump won Arkansas with 62% of the vote.

Sanders rose to fame within the Republican Party during her nearly two-year tenure as press secretary, during which she frequently fended off combative questions from reporters critical of the president.