Bernie’s Flawed Vehicle
At his speech to the Democratic National Convention last night, Bernie Sanders played the usual hits — and also called for a cease-fire in Gaza. But his righteous populist anger felt out of place before a party still dominated by corporate interests.

Senator Bernie Sanders speaks during the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, August 20. (Jacek Boczarski / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Last night, Bernie Sanders addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It was his third time speaking at the DNC, eight years after his momentous challenge to Hillary Clinton first brought him to the forefront of national politics. In 2016, Sanders spoke as the leader of a rising insurgent wing in the party; at this year’s convention, by contrast, he spoke as an ally of Joe Biden’s administration.
Sanders’s speech was mostly unsurprising. He hit his usual themes: decrying the greed of the billionaire class, yawning economic inequality, and the desperation faced by too many Americans; reiterating the need to get money out of politics; calling for guaranteeing health care as a human right, passing the PRO Act, fully funding public education, raising the minimum wage, and so on.