EXCERPT:
SANDERS: "They go together, actually. An oligarchy is a nation where a small number of incredibly wealthy people control the economy, control media. We have some experience with that right here on CBS.
(Audience boos)
And they control the political system. So you add it all together, and today we have more income and wealth inequality than we’ve ever had an history of America. See, you’ve got the top 1% owning more wealth than the bottom 93%. One man, Mr. Musk, one man, owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. All right? And then you have a political system, all right? These guys not only want to control the economy, they want to control the political system. So you have a corrupt political system as the result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, so that billionaires like Mr. Musk can spend $270 million to elect Trump. There are Democratic billionaires also putting money into the political process. And ordinary people, they say, 'Hey, I’ve got one vote. I can't spend millions of dollars to elect a candidate.' So you add ownership of media, which is becoming more and more concentrated. right-wing people buying media, owning social media, Mr. Musk owns X. Zuckerberg owns — "
COLBERT: " — Facebook and Instagram."
SANDERS: "Meta, right. Ellison now owns Paramount and CBS. You add all those things up, what you add end up with a really small number of people with incredible wealth and incredible power. Stephen, that is what oligarchy is about."