Bernie vs. Goliath

Eight weeks after the start of Donald Trump's second presidency in the USA, it is obvious that the leadership of the opposition Democrats has neither the personnel nor the strategy to deal with this situation appropriately.

Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, are driving at a low speed. Jeffries is traveling around the country to promote his children's book "The ABCs of Democracy" and was not even able to prevent ten Democratic representatives from joining the Republicans in passing a reprimand against their own colleague Al Green last week. The 77-year-old black man from Texas had protested loudly against the president during Trump's speech to both chambers of Congress last week until he was thrown out of the hall.

The Democrats' email lists continue to send out requests for donations every day, but have no idea how to stop Trump. And for politicians who are being considered as possible candidates for the 2028 presidential election, the old adage applies that it is far too early to come forward. The urgent desire for protest and resistance finds no leadership in the opposition party.

Perhaps that is also why someone who no longer wants to become anything is now taking the lead. Bernie Sanders, the now 83-year-old democratic socialist and recently re-elected independent senator from Vermont, has been traveling since mid-February with his "Stop the Oligarchy Tour" through constituencies won by Republicans in November.

And he draws a lot of people. Last weekend, over 9,000 people came to see Sanders in Warren, a suburb of Detroit in Michigan - outside of any election campaign. The day before, there were 4,000 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the morning after, 2,600 people came to a Sanders appearance in Altoona - the city in Wisconsin has less than 10,000 inhabitants.

Sharp criticism and certainty of victory

At his appearances , Sanders speaks as we know him : In clear terms and with plenty of numbers, he points out that the current government is not, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires. And he calculates that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg alone, who were in the front row at Trump's inauguration, have a combined wealth of $900 billion, equivalent to the entire lower half of the US population.

From this perspective, it is only logical to rail against the destruction of public services by Musk's "Government Efficiency Authority" and against the Republican budget proposal currently being negotiated, whose tax gifts to the rich can only be financed by cuts in health care for the working class.

And Sanders is trying to spread hope. In front of the packed halls, he proclaims that "the people will not allow us to move toward oligarchy. They will not allow Trump to establish an authoritarian rule here. We are ready to fight, and we will win!" In times when too many are surrendering to resignation, these messages are needed. When Sanders simply posted a 20-minute video response himself on the internet on the evening of Donald Trump's speech to Congress, it was viewed millions of times.