Bernie Sanders: 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.'

In a fiery speech during the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that amid President Trump's first term, the "unthinkable has become normal," and for democracy to stand a chance, people must elect former Vice President Joe Biden in November.

Trump, Sanders said, has "deployed the military and federal agents against peaceful protesters" and "suggested that he will not leave office if he loses. This is not normal, and we must never treat it like it is." Under Trump's leadership, "authoritarianism has taken root in our country," Sanders continued. "I and my family and many of yours know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency, and humanity. As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates, and yes, with conservatives, to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat."

Shifting his attention to the coronavirus crisis, Sanders said by rejecting science, Trump has "put our lives and health in jeopardy," and his inaction "fanned this pandemic, resulting in over 170,000 deaths." The president has "attacked doctors and scientists trying to protect us from the pandemic, while refusing to take strong action to produce the masks, gowns, and gloves our health care workers desperately need," Sanders continued, before dropping the biggest diss of the night. "Nero fiddled while Rome burned," he said. "Trump golfs."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Sanders also thanked his supporters for backing him, and said they "moved this country in a bold new direction, showing that all of us, black and white, Latino, Native American, Asian American, gay and straight, native born and immigrant, yearn for a nation based on the principles of justice, love, and compassion." Biden supports many of the same things they fought for, from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to providing 12 weeks of paid family leave, and Sanders said for the sake of democracy, the economy, and our planet, "we must come together to defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president. The price of failure is too great to imagine."