DI has documented statements by Bernie Sanders on 2026 Midterm Elections, Artificial Intelligence, and Free Speech, among other topics. Read the quotations, original sources and related cases below.
Bernie Sanders condemns the No Kings suspension as part of a broader criticism of billionaire control over media platforms.
“This is what billionaire ownership of the media means: Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta shut down the No Kings account for hours during the height of their protests. Meta suppressed accounts supporting Brazil President Lula da Silva in the recent election. Larry Ellison’s TikTok blocked advertising for a documentary criticizing Elon Musk. Fight back. Defeat oligarchy. Preserve democracy.”
The reference point is Meta's October 17, 2026 suspension of the No Kings Coalition Instagram account during the coalition's day of action. Sanders cites the suspension as an example of what billionaire ownership of the media means and calls on people to fight back, which condemns it.
Bernie Sanders supported the Ban Flock Act, which would prohibit federal use of automatic license plate readers and limit federal funding for state and local use.
“We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”
Bernie Sanders voted yea on H.Con.Res. 89, a vote to direct the removal of U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities with Iran.
“On the Concurrent Resolution H.Con.Res. 89: A concurrent resolution directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.”
Role at the time: U.S. senator from Vermont, in a public statement reported by The New York Times
Condemned
Statement summary
Sanders said the press exclusions undermined the First Amendment, the Constitution and democracy, and called them authoritarian.
“We will not allow Trump to undermine the First Amendment, the Constitution and our democracy. We will not accept authoritarianism.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Live updates: CNN, Politico and MS NOW reporters barred from White House · The New York TimesLive coverage updated through September 19, 2026, 5:48 PM ET; reaction roundup and legal-challenge updates
Why we used this label
Sanders directly opposes the conduct as an attack on constitutional press freedom and characterizes it as authoritarian.
Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized Robert Kraft over Macklemore's tour removal, saying "billionaire stadium owners should not be able to silence artists because they speak out on political issues."
“In the United States of America, billionaire stadium owners should not be able to silence artists because they speak out on political issues. Today it is the genocide in Gaza. What's next? If they can silence one artist, they can silence anyone.”
On Macklemore's MetLife message and conduct, Sanders argues that speaking out should not have cost the artist his place on the tour, and adopts Macklemore's own characterization of Gaza as a genocide. That treats the conduct under scrutiny as acceptable. His criticism of Robert Kraft is the target of the remark, not the case position: the removal is the consequence he rejects, not the conduct this case examines. Amended by classification correction 321.
Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared alongside Steve Bannon at a Washington, D.C. "pro-human AI" summit, saying "regulating AI is not a progressive issue... it is as American as apple pie."
“Regulating AI is not a progressive issue. It is not a conservative issue. It is as American as apple pie.”
Sanders frames unregulated AI development as a bipartisan concern requiring government action, a condemnation of the current unregulated approach to advancing AI relevant to the case's central question.
Meta took the No Kings Coalition's Instagram offline during its October 17 day of action. Meta called it an automated error, first citing posting volume and then a Claude tool's reading activity. Organizers and Democratic senators question the explanation.
TikTok suspended paid advertising for Alex Gibney's Musk documentary in messages invoking its political-ad rules, then said the account was restored after an error. Bernie Sanders calls for a fight against oligarchy; Sam E. Antar and Paul A. Szypula defend the platform.
Trump told a Nebraska rally "Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego." California officials say he called attacks on the cities a small price for the Iran war; the White House says he meant a nuclear Iran's threat.
Trump announced a White House ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico over their coverage. Read his original post, the outlets' responses and their accounts of reporters being refused entry.
After leaving Anthropic, Jacob Coxon said Anthropic and OpenAI were irresponsibly racing toward self-improving superintelligence, while praising Anthropic's current practices. Responses dispute catastrophic-risk forecasts, working inside AI labs, and whether governments should pause or regulate development.
Should Congress adopt Bernie Sanders’s 32-hour-workweek bills? H.R. 10323 and S. 5384 would change federal overtime rules for covered nonexempt workers. Sanders and Takano support them; David McIntosh predicts harm.
Networked automated license-plate cameras can assemble searchable records of vehicle movements. Candidates and officials disagree over whether to ban the systems, keep them with limits, or defend them as investigative tools. This tracker separates outright bans from narrower restrictions.
Read Macklemore's 'Free Palestine' speech excerpts and the full transcript source. Compare the promoter's venue statement with his account of leaving Ed Sheeran's U.S. tour.
Vice President JD Vance said he would not call the U.S. fight with Iran a war, citing no active shooting. President Trump defended the description; Sanders, Schumer and Massie criticized it, and Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson called the fighting aggression, not war.
Trump backs company controls and outside audits for frontier AI. Critics want enforceable federal safeguards, and the White House now calls incident reporting mandatory without identifying enforcement mechanisms or penalties.
An issue tracker recording where members of Congress and 2026 midterm candidates stand on the unauthorized Iran war, based on their votes on war-powers resolutions, campaign statements, and public remarks.
