Bernie: The Podcast

On the latest episode of Bernie: The Podcast I speak to environmentalist Bill McKibben. Bill is an activist and writer who is one of the leading voices on the impact of climate change and a dear friend of mine. He is the founder of the climate campaign group 350.org and Third Act. He has authored a dozen books about the environment, including his first, The End of Nature (1989. We discuss the record heatwaves sweeping the globe as we speak, the growth of renewable energy and how much time we have to save our planet, and what a second Trump term would mean for climate change. 

In this episode, I am joined by someone who I greatly admire. He’s not the flashiest leader. 

He doesn't make headlines every day, but in my opinion, he is a modern-day hero, and one of the brightest leaders in the labor movement. 

His name is Shawn Fain and he is the President of the United Auto Workers. The UAW, under Shawn’s leadership, recently secured a historic contract with huge pay and benefit increases for workers at the Big Three automakers–GM, Ford and Stellantis. 

But the UAW did not stop there. Under Shawn’s leadership, they have launched a massive new initiative to organize non-union auto plants in the South. 

And they have notched several more historic victories in recent months. In April, workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted to join the union, becoming the first large nonunion auto plant in the South to do so. 

Weeks later, the union negotiated a new contract bringing significant pay and benefit improvements for its members at several North Carolina factories owned by Daimler Truck.

The campaign hasn’t been without its setbacks. Last month the UAW narrowly lost a unionization vote at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama following a concerted anti-union effort from corporate interests and the state’s governor. Both the US and German governments are currently investigating Mercedes for the intimidation and harassment they inflicted on their own workers during the campaign.

But just this week, UAW electric vehicle workers in Lordstown, Ohio reached a tentative agreement that will more than double their wages by the end of the contract.

So I am very excited to talk about the success of the UAW and the resurgent labor movement with my guest, UAW President Shawn Fain.

In this episode, I talk to Naomi Klein, a professor, author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her criticism of the climate crisis, uber-capitalism and war, and for books like the Shock Doctrine, No Logo and most recently, Doppelganger. Naomi has also been an outspoken critic of the ongoing war in Gaza.

We discuss the intersecting crises of oligarchy, militarism and climate change, how the left can best combat right-wing extremism, and how a Donald Trump presidency would be a disaster for Palestinians. 

I spoke with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar about her personal story, living through war as a child, how it informed her outlook on the world and how we can create a more humane world. We also discussed our work together to make school meals universal and cancel all student debt and what keeps us up at night.

Hear my full conversation with @AOC on growing up working class in America and the experiences that shaped us. 

In this episode, we talk about the war in Gaza, decades of failed foreign policy and how the U.S. compares to the rest of the world on fundamental issues.

As always, if you'd like a copy of my book, you can make a contribution today — of $12 any amount you can afford —at berniesanders.com/book and we'll send it to you in the mail.

In episode, we look at the media. As we speak, mainstream media is increasingly controlled by a tiny handful of corporate media conglomerates—many of which are controlled by billionaires. And local journalism—the lifeblood of democracy—is an increasingly endangered species  Along with The Nation journalist John Nichols, I discuss why this is and how we construct a healthy media environment not beholden to billionaires.
As always, if you'd like a copy of my book, you can make a contribution today — of $12 any amount you can afford —at berniesanders.com/book and we'll send it to you in the mail.

This episode is about work, from artificial intelligence and what it means for the future of labor to the growing surge of union organizing and how to build an economy that works for all.

If you'd like a copy of my book, you can make a contribution today — of $12 any amount you can afford —at berniesanders.com/book and we'll send it to you in the mail.

This episode is about what, in my view, is the central issue of our time—and that is the enormous concentration of wealth in the hands of a few billionaires, and the fact that every day we are sliding further away from democracy into an oligarchic form of government. We talk about how these billionaires are able to stash much of their wealth in tax havens and how they exert enormous influence over our political system.

If you'd like a copy of my book, you can make a contribution today — of $12 any amount you can afford —at berniesanders.com/book and we'll send it to you in the mail.

I am excited to announce that, this week, I am launching a new podcast. In it, we discuss my recent book, It's Ok to Be Angry about Capitalism.

If you'd like a copy of the book, you can make a contribution today — of $12 any amount you can afford —at berniesanders.com/book  and we'll send it to you in the mail.