Episode 467 · The Studio Revamp
Bernie Sanders | The Tim Dillon Show #467
Oct 22, 2025 · 1:05:37 · 527,000 views · 21 segments, 118 moments indexed
Tim Dillon sits down with Senator Bernie Sanders to discuss his new book “Fight Oligarchy”, immigration, American funding of the wars in Ukraine & Gaza, the Democratic Party, transgender issues, and affordability of healthcare.
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- 1 min
Tim introduces the episode and plugs Bernie Sanders' new book Fight Oligarchy before bringing Sanders on.
2moments
- Tim introduces Bernie Sanders and his new book Fight Oligarchy
- Bernie Sanders thanks Tim for having him on the show
Bernie SandersFight Oligarchy
- 2 min
Bernie Sanders lays out statistics on extreme wealth concentration, citing Musk owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of Americans and the top 1% owning more than the bottom 93%.
3moments
- Guest explains the book addresses unprecedented wealth inequality and power concentration that mainstream media and Congress avoid discussing.
- Elon Musk owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households combined.
- Tim notes that 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck while the richest become phenomenally wealthier.
- 3 min
Sanders explains how the Citizens United decision opened the door to unlimited political donations, discusses Musk's $270 million contribution to Trump, and proposes public funding of elections.
9moments
- Major presidential contenders are backed by the same wealthy donor class across Tim's lifetime.
- Citizens United Supreme Court decision treats political donations as speech, allowing unlimited campaign contributions.
- Citizens United opened the door to a corrupt campaign finance system that empowers billionaires.
- Elon Musk contributed $270 million to help elect Trump and was then given immense government power.
- Democratic billionaires control what candidates stand for and fight for through their money.
- Public funding of elections would level the playing field so candidates with better ideas win, not richer ones.
- This Supreme Court won't reverse Citizens United; change would have to come through Congress.
- Congress could outlaw super PACs through legislation as a first step to fixing campaign finance.
- Mitch McConnell was a leader in the effort to keep Citizens United in place.
Citizens UnitedElon MuskMitch McConnellDonald TrumpKamala Harris
- 4 min
Sanders describes how Trump reshaped the GOP into a cult of personality, using Senator Tom Tillis's retirement after opposing Trump's bill as an example of billionaires threatening primaries.
5moments
- Republican Party transformed under Trump from conventional centerright to working-class party with cult-of-personality ideology
- Tom Tillis story: senator read Trump's healthcare bill, concluded it would devastate North Carolina, said he couldn't vote for it
- Trump attacked Tillis on social media and billionaires threatened unlimited primary spending against him, forcing his retirement
- Tim argues Republican Party and Democratic Party have both undergone transformation away from working people toward different constituencies
- Democratic Party diverted energy from economic message into social justice sphere, proving unpopular with working-class voters who went to Trump
Tom TillisElon MuskDonald TrumpJimmy Kimmel
- 4 min
Sanders traces the Democratic Party's shift starting in the 1970s toward corporate donor money, while crediting it for progress on women's rights, civil rights, and gay marriage, as Tim pushes back on cultural issues overshadowing economic ones.
10moments
- 50 years ago, the Democratic Party was clearly the party representing the American working class.
- In the 1970s, Democratic leaders decided to chase corporate money like Republicans, beginning the party's drift away from working people.
- Democrats deserve credit for fighting for women's rights and controlling their own bodies.
- Progress on women in positions of power—cops, sheet metal workers, senators—shows real advancement over the past 40-50 years.
- The Democratic Party helped end segregation, the civil rights movement, and later enabled gay marriage in America.
- Focus on cultural and social issues in the last election felt outsized, treating those concerns as luxuries rather than essentials to many people.
- The core problem: Democrats turned their backs on the working class while pursuing civil rights victories, ignoring the enormous crisis facing working people.
- Chris Hedges describes the Republican Party as oligarchy—powerful individuals with tons of influence, including aligned tech leaders.
- The Democratic Party functions more like a corporation where wealthy interests work together, stable but still impoverishing people by ignoring health care and housing.
- Core economic concerns of the population—health care and housing—aren't being addressed by either party's structure.
Dr KingLyndon JohnsonChris HedgesDonald TrumpHarry TrumanFDR
- 4 min
Tim raises concerns about Democratic-run cities, bail reform, and public safety, and Sanders defends Zohran Mamdani while acknowledging serious crime and homelessness problems nationwide.
5moments
- Democratic-run cities are perceived as incompetent on public safety, with tent cities, drug use, and crime driving businesses away.
- Tim expresses concern that Mamdani's defunding police approach could increase NYC crime by deploying untrained non-police responders.
- Bernie Sanders is supporting Mamdani and will do a rally for him, calling him a very smart and serious person.
- Sanders says Mamdani is cognizant of both crime and homelessness issues, acknowledging 800,000 homeless people and serious drug problems nationwide.
- Do you actually need police responding to overdoses or mental health breakdowns, or should other trained professionals handle those calls?
MannyDemocratic PartySan FranciscoPortlandBurlington, Vermont
- 3 min
Sanders argues America is the richest nation in history yet fails on healthcare, education, and childcare, citing his brother's free college tuition decades ago versus today's costs.
6moments
- America is the wealthiest nation in history, yet lacks the best healthcare, education, affordable housing, or nutritious food for its people.
- A small number of extraordinarily wealthy tech billionaires have concentrated power and believe they have a divine right to rule with little accountability.
- Most Americans agree the healthcare system isn't working and that healthcare should be a human right, despite the country's divisions on other issues.
- Bernie's brother paid zero tuition to Brooklyn College in the 1970s, and UC schools had zero tuition then, but today families can't afford to send kids to college.
- Psychologists say ages zero through four are the most important years for children's development, yet America's childcare system is terrible and workers earn only $15 an hour.
- American kids rank 37th in the world in science, reading, and writing.
big tech billionairesUniversity of CaliforniaBernie SandersBrooklyn College
- 1 min
Tim reads an ad for Morgan and Morgan personal injury law firm, running through their slogan about being injured by negligence.
4moments
- Tim pitches Morgan and Morgan Law Firm as America's largest personal injury firm with a thousand lawyers and 100 offices nationwide.
- Tim emphasizes that not all law firms are the same and hiring the wrong one leaves you beat before you start.
- Tim runs through absurd injury scenarios—fell on icy sidewalk, wet floor at Wendy's, hair salon cooked your brain—all ending with "Morgan and Morgan."
- Morgan and Morgan's fee is free unless they win, available at forthepeople.com/jim.
- 1 min
- 5 min
Discussion of Steve Bannon's call to seize SpaceX, Musk's wealth, and Sanders' story about a rally where almost no one believed AI and robotics would help the working class, plus speculation about billionaires building bunkers.
9moments
- Steve Bannon has suggested seizing SpaceX and deporting Elon Musk.
- Musk has over 400 billion dollars and is on his way to becoming a trillionaire, which Tim says is not acceptable.
- Tim argues billionaires get satisfaction from creation, but there's a limit to how much wealth anyone needs.
- Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine and gave it away, unlike modern billionaires building autonomous drone armies.
- Billionaires are building bunkers all over the world—Tim questions what they know that we don't.
- Tim asks if anyone really believes billionaires are investing in AI and robotics to improve life for average Americans.
- At a rally in Davenport, Iowa with thousands of people, only two hands went up when Tim asked who thinks AI will help the working class.
- AI and robotics will displace millions of people from their jobs, making it impossible for workers to benefit from economic transformation.
- A handful of billionaires are determining the future of the world, with no input from ordinary people.
Elon MuskSteve BannonbunkersSpaceXJonas SalkArtificial IntelligenceJeff BezosLarry Ellison+1 more
- 10 min
Tim and Sanders debate ICE raids, border security failures under both parties, the Kryger poultry plant story about wages rising after a workplace raid, and the need for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship.
12moments
- Tim argues that immigration has been the dominant political issue in recent elections across the US and UK.
- The Kryger poultry plant raid in Georgia forced owners to hire American workers and raise wages when undocumented labor dried up.
- Tim notes people oppose mass immigration partly because they're suffering without healthcare while the justification is that these are jobs Americans won't do.
- Nation states require borders; Trump did better on border security than Biden, though Trump didn't do it perfectly either.
- With roughly 10 million undocumented people in the country—less than 3% of the population—the question becomes what the appropriate response should be.
- Undocumented immigrants came here illegally, but the real fault lies with employers like Steve Wynn who exploit them and don't use E-Verify.
- Tim compares demagoguing against immigrants to how authoritarian regimes historically blamed powerless minorities like Jews and gypsies instead of addressing real problems.
- The crime rate in communities of undocumented people is actually lower than the general average, contradicting Trump's framing of them as lawless.
- The Democratic party abandoned workers' rights advocacy on immigration, allowing Republicans to demagogue the issue despite it historically benefiting pro-business interests like the Koch brothers.
- Congress should pursue comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship rather than mass deportations or open-ended immigration.
- A path towards citizenship is the goal Congress should set for itself to resolve the immigration crisis.
- Immigration reform is a terribly important issue that Congress needs to deal with.
Donald TrumpJoe BidenICESteve WynnKoch brothersMark AndreKryger
- 2 min
Tim reads a Cozy Earth bedding ad that spirals into a dark, absurd story about a friend whose family was kidnapped abroad, tying it back to how comfortable the sheets are.
4moments
- Tim explains that bedding's only role in making a home feel like a sanctuary is wrapping yourself in a cocoon of comfort.
- Tim launches into a story about a friend whose wife and child were kidnapped by bandits in a foreign country.
- The kidnapped family never returned, leaving the friend traumatized and replaying the night in his head.
- Despite the tragedy, the friend is so comfortable in Cozy Earth bedding that some people suspect he staged the kidnapping, though Tim attributes his relaxation to the product's quality.
- 1 min
Tim reads a straightforward ad for Neuro's energy gum and mints, touting green tea caffeine and no crash.
4moments
- Tim reads ad copy about Neurogum and Mints as solution to afternoon energy crashes and regrettable coffee decisions.
- He vouches that everyone he knows using Neurogum has made it part of their specific wellness and energy routine.
- Neurogum's memory and focus gum uses American ginseng for mental clarity without jitters, and sleep mints contain melatonin and chamomile for rest without pills.
- Promo code: 20% off first order at neurogum.com with code TIM.
- 5 min
Tim argues the trans debate around puberty blockers for children has hurt Democrats politically by overshadowing bigger issues, and Sanders agrees while redirecting to healthcare and the ongoing government shutdown.
10moments
- Most Americans think people should live as they want without infringing on others, but get understandably concerned about children.
- The trans issue only hears from the loudest voices on both sides—those who think trans people shouldn't exist and radical activists who call any questioning transphobia.
- Polls show most Americans don't want prepubescent children on puberty blocking hormones because kids don't know what's going on yet.
- Tim argues the Democratic Party has lost its way on this issue, letting it suck the oxygen out of conversations about abortion rights, gay rights, and trans rights.
- Biological men in women's sports and child sex changes are unpopular issues that Democrats have refused to compromise on.
- These positions have tremendously hurt the electability of Democrats.
- Bernie Sanders pivots to why America won't discuss universal healthcare, the fact that the US is the only major country not guaranteeing it to all people.
- In Canada, a month-long hospital stay costs zero dollars—a staggering contrast to American medical debt.
- The function of the US healthcare system is to make insurance and drug companies rich, not to serve patients, unlike countries that spend half as much per capita.
- Sanders accuses Republicans of demagoguery, deflecting attention from major crises like healthcare and the government shutdown to focus on the trans issue instead.
Democratic PartyRepublican Partyhealthcaretrans rightspuberty blocking hormones for childrenCanadaminimum wageBurlington, Vermont
- 3 min
Tim presses Sanders on the lack of transparency around Biden's cognitive decline and the absence of a real primary, and Sanders argues Harris lost because she didn't focus on working-class economic issues.
6moments
- Tim says Biden's clear cognitive issues made his candidacy shocking given the election's stakes.
- Kamala Harris, relatively unpopular in Democratic primaries, became the candidate with only 90 days to introduce herself.
- The Democratic Party machinery allowed Biden's mental decline to go unaddressed and unscrutinized despite claims that democracy itself was on the ballot.
- Harris ran against the guest in 2020 and he worked hard to get her elected, but the real problem was her campaign strategy.
- Harris didn't run a campaign focused on working-class needs—no emphasis on healthcare, economics, minimum wage, family leave, or housing.
- Her failure to focus on issues working people struggle with allowed Trump to win, according to the guest's analysis.
- 3 min
Sanders discusses the Gaza ceasefire, casualty statistics, American funding of Netanyahu's government, and calls both Netanyahu and Hamas leaders war criminals.
8moments
- Tim hopes the Gaza ceasefire works and wants to address the situation directly.
- Netanyahu and Israeli politics led them to wage war against the entire Palestinian people, not just Hamas.
- Gaza's population of 2.2 million has suffered 65,000 dead and 140,000-160,000 injured—10% of the entire population.
- The equivalent casualty rate in America would be 33 million people killed or wounded.
- A ceasefire was recently reached with hostage and prisoner releases, and Gaza now needs international reconstruction.
- AIPAC is a powerful lobbying organization that doesn't have to register as a foreign lobby and receives major Trump donor support.
- America should never again fund countries violating international and American law by restricting humanitarian aid.
- Netanyahu is a war criminal, as are the leaders of Hamas, and this should be a lesson for the country.
HamasBenjamin NetanyahuIsraelDonald TrumpPalestinian peopleAIPACGazaMiriam Melson
- 4 min
Tim and Sanders discuss why young voters question funding for Israel and Ukraine, with Sanders condemning Putin but ruling out sending troops or long-range missiles to Ukraine.
7moments
- Young voters can't afford houses while billions go to Israel and Ukraine—the biggest tension point in both parties.
- Tim argues Trump telling Zelensky to retake all territory instead of forcing peace doesn't address young people's core question about funding.
- Putin is a disgusting human being, and hundreds of thousands of young Russians have died in the war—a fact not widely known.
- Tim counters that Americans don't want funding that increases deaths, and points out Putin has reorganized his economy and strengthened ties with China, India, and Brazil.
- European ambassadors fear Putin wants to rebuild the Russian Empire and will advance into Eastern Europe next, potentially involving US troops.
- The rebuttal: he can barely win in Ukraine, so the idea he'll march through Europe doesn't hold up.
- Tim asks when funding should stop and whether the guest would commit American troops or give Zelensky long-range missiles to hit Moscow.
Vladimir PutinVolodymyr ZelenskyyUkraineDonald TrumpIsraelBRICSRussian Empire
- 1 min
Tim reads an ad for Neutrafol hair growth supplements, including a bit about a friend whose hair grew back but who remains a professional failure.
2moments
- A friend of his started taking Neutrafol and his hair came back, but he's still a commercial failure in his chosen profession, so Tim redirects the mockery to that instead.
- Tim reacts to the $10 discount offer by questioning whether the company is giving away the store.
- 5 min
Sanders discusses AIPAC's role and declining influence, and Tim raises questions about immigrant groups, cultural assimilation, free speech laws around criticism of Israel and Islam, and respecting host countries' customs.
6moments
- AIPAC has spread money to both Republicans and Democrats and played a terrible role supporting Netanyahu, but their influence is beginning to wane.
- Tim raises the question of how America discusses cultural assimilation and migration without reflexively calling everyone racist.
- Some people believe groups are exploiting Western countries without respecting laws, customs, or culture—a concern that isn't inherently paranoid or racist.
- The problem: how can we have conversations about protecting our civilization's values without knee-jerk accusations of racism?
- Tim uses the analogy of a guest in your house respecting the host as a basic principle for immigrants respecting their host country.
- When politicians allocate hundreds of millions for legal disputes for undocumented immigrants, it raises the question of why those resources aren't going to struggling American communities instead.
AIPACBernie SandersIsraelGazaBenjamin NetanyahuUnited KingdomJacob FreyEric Adams
- 3 min
Debate over Zohran Mamdani's stance against ICE raids and Trump's troop deployment threats, plus Tim's joking scenario that Mamdani will eventually be toasting Jamie Dimon on a yacht.
5moments
- Tim disagrees with ICE raids but worries that if people attack or block ICE, it becomes a pretext for Trump troop deployments.
- If Zoron goes to war with Trump on enforcing federal immigration law, it could make New York a crazy place to live.
- Tim asks whether Zoron will move to the center, mentioning reports of meetings with David Axelrod and Obama people.
- Tim fantasizes about Zoron ending up toasting Jamie Dimon in a ballroom, then on a yacht with him, as politicians often do.
- The guest says he doesn't think he and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be in New York City next week, dismissing Tim's yacht scenario.
Donald TrumpICEAlexandria Ocasio-CortezJamie DimonMarjorie Taylor GreeneDavid AxelrodNew York CityPortland
- 1 min
Tim jokingly proposes a Marjorie Taylor Greene and AOC unity ticket, then closes the interview thanking Sanders and plugging the book again.
1moment
- Tim jokes that he hopes Peter Thiel puts him and Bernie Sanders in prison in similar parts so they can socialize and discuss the book.