Bernie Explains Social Security, Dismisses Donald Trump (1990)
Channel: Reminisciences
Date: 2016-02-14

"What you have is a social security withholding payment, which is based on extremely regressive principles. For a start, somebody in Washington decided that you make a million dollars a year, I was going to use Donald Trump as an example, but I saw in the paper today that Mr. Trump has problems. So we won't use poor Mr. Trump. He's in trouble. You know, just your average millionaire."

For those wondering, this is likely a reference to this article-
http://goo.gl/5KqkU3

While the piece is clearly a bit of fun at Trump's expense, er, gain. The decline of his own empire may rest squarely on his shoulders, but this was during the real estate crash of 1990, a seminal event in George H.W. Bush's failed extension of Reaganomics, which lead to the election of Bill Clinton. The 2016 election represents an uncanny intersection of many events from this time.

Excerpt from Bernie's interview with Sociology Professor Dennis Gilbert, June 6th, 1990. CC-BY-NC-SA license by Ch. 17 TV; see full interview at http://goo.gl/dLUOIB