Senator Bernie Sanders must have spent the day in New York City, Wednesday, because he not only appeared on "The View" but "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" as well.
Sanders joined Colbert on the stage for the opening monologue to a standing ovation and chants for "Bernie, Bernie." He was there to encourage Colbert to follow his heart saying, "Stephen, you can do what you want and be responsible!" Colbert told him that all of the shows begin with an opening monologue, it's just how things are done. "Stephen! That's what the elites want you to think!" Sanders said poking some fun at himself for his message to fight the one percent. "The revolution is possible! You are the revolution. And this time, the revolution will literally be televised."
When Sanders joined Colbert on the stage for their interview, Colbert wanted to know the details of the New Hampshire primary, particularly young voters where Sanders has won in the past and Democrats need to excel to win the election. Colbert explained it as Sanders being like PuppyMonkeyBaby, a reference to the Super Bowl ad, which Sanders admitted he didn't understand. Sanders attributed two reasons for his success with the youth vote, "first, I think young people are idealistic and they look at a world with so many problems in it and they say 'why not? Why can't all people in this country have health care? Why can't we make public colleges and universities tuition free? Why not?'... The second part that I think young people are thinking about is: How does it happen that with all of this technology and productivity in our economy they are likely to have a lower standard of living than their parents while almost all income and wealth is going to the top one percent? So, they're not dumb and they say: 'Hey! We want a fair shake as well.'"
Colbert reiterated claims by naysayers who say Sanders is inciting a class war and that the one percent are not just going to give up their power and influence that they have over the government. Sanders thinks a change will come simply because people have been pushed that far.
When it comes to comments made by Fox New's Bill O'Reilly on Monday's show that Sanders is just like Trump, Sanders was quick to cite them as a reason that voters may want to support him. "Let me say something about Bill O'Reilly. Bill said, and this is a reason why people want to vote for me, Bill said that if I won the presidency that he would move to Ireland," he said to cheers from the audience. "So electing me President is a two-for! You get Sanders and you get Bill to go to Ireland." He went on to say that many of Trump's supporters are angry and that they see the two candidates as providing answers to what they feel is an inequality. He continued that many of Trump's supporters are responding to a false message that places blame on different races and religions. "People have a right to be angry, but what we need to be is to be rational in figuring out how we address the problems and not simply scapegoating minorities."
Colbert acknowledged some of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statements about Sanders giving people false hopes for policies that can never come to fruition. Sanders asked the "why not" question explaining that so many European countries do it, why can't the United States. He said there is the public demand for it and that most Americans believe that healthcare is a universal right, but the question is if people are willing to stand up to the companies that control politicians and policy. "I believe when people are aroused, yes, we can take on the drug companies and the insurance companies," Sanders concluded.
Colbert then, hilariously, had to take a break to sell some products from major corporations.
Opening Monologue:
Sanders interview:
