Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) calls tech billionaire Elon Musk a “smart guy” and Robert F. Kennedy as he prepares to assume the leadership position of President-elect Trump.・He called Mr. Junior “correct” about America's “unhealthy society.” management.
inInterview with Business InsiderSanders on Tuesday cited areas where he sees common ground with Musk, who he has long criticized as a threat to democracy.
Musk was chosen to co-lead Trump's new Office of Government Efficiency and promised to cut spending.
“If anyone on the other side has a good idea, of course I'm going to work with them,” Sanders told the outlet.
He said many of Musk's actions during Trump's presidential campaign were “really ugly,” but that Musk was “a very smart guy” who called for an independent audit of the Pentagon. He admitted that it was the right thing to ask.
“We need a strong military, but we don't need all the waste, profiteering and fraud that currently exists at the Pentagon,” he said.
Sanders also agreed with Musk on cutting defense spending.Posting on social platform Xat the beginning of the week.
“Elon Musk is right. The Department of Defense, with an $886 billion budget, has failed seven consecutive audits. Billions of dollars are missing,” Sanders said in a post Sunday. Ta. “Last year, only 13 senators voted against the military-industrial complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud. That has to change.”
Sanders, co-chair of the Senate Health Committee, also found common ground with Kennedy.
Kennedy was selected to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). His confirmation process in the Senate is likely to be difficult because of his controversial views on health and his plan to “Make America Healthy Again.”
Both Mr. Sanders and Mr. Kennedy aim to challenge processed foods across the country.
“When Kennedy talks about an unhealthy society, he's right,” Sanders told Business Insider. “The number of chronic diseases we have is just extraordinary.”
Sanders pointed out that millions of people across the country live with obesity and diabetes, and the impact is not just on the health care system, but on other people as well.
“We want people to live long lives, to live productive lives, to live happy lives. That's what we want,” he said. “And if the industry is feeding children foods that make them overweight and lead to diabetes and other diseases, that's clearly a problem that we need to address.”
Sanders said he thinks Kennedy's anti-vaccine stance is “in some ways crazy” and a conspiracy theory, but overall, “some of the things he's saying aren't crazy.”
