Bernie Sanders used a grim phrase at a rally in Manhattan on Sunday—“the worst is yet to come”—and didn’t try to soften it.
He was talking about the US economy and what happens if workers don’t push back against what he called a “ruling class” of billionaires. Standing onstage alongside Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, Sanders aimed his criticism at the political and economic choices he says will leave working and middle-class Americans with fewer protections and less leverage.
The rally, part of the launch of Union Now, was held at Terminal 5 in Manhattan. The room had that pre-event buzz you get with crowds—people shifting in line, someone somewhere yelling to a friend—and it was hard not to notice how often “jobs” came up. Mamdani, too, warned that artificial intelligence is “coming for human jobs” as concern grows about the technology’s rapid development.
Sanders linked the threat of AI and robots directly to the wider struggle over income inequality, arguing that the stakes aren’t just wages or benefits but something more existential for democracy itself. He pointed to billionaires he said are pushing for automation that replaces workers, and he named Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, executive chair of Amazon, as examples of leaders driving that agenda. He also referenced Bezos’s recent announcement of an effort to raise $100bn to buy and automate manufacturing companies.
“Unless we fundamentally transform our economic and political systems, the worst is yet to come,” Sanders declared, framing union-building as the practical response. Mamdani described union density as the “most effective tool” for tackling inequality, saying organizing drives and strikes can be “lonely work.” He added that Union Now would “support workers and provide them with more resources,” and that his administration would “stand right alongside them.” Then he turned sharper: “AI and robots are coming for human jobs. Worker protections are being eroded. There are companies that think that exploitation is a viable business model. They are wrong.”
Sanders broadened the attack beyond technology, saying the working and middle classes are being treated like bargaining chips in decisions driven by Trump and other billionaires. He argued there is “an extraordinary level of arrogance and cruelty” among the ruling class, and he described it as a kind of entitlement—“like the monarchs of the 19th century”—before adding, “I’m not exaggerating, like the monarchs of the 19th century. They believe that they have the divine right to rule.” He told the crowd that Musk owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of all Americans, and he said that in 2025 alone 938 US-based billionaires saw their net worths increase by $1.5tn.
The senator also returned to the idea of collective political action, citing Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral election last year. Sanders said that outcome showed people could come together to defeat billionaire and ultra wealthy efforts that opposed Mamdani’s candidacy. “Their nightmare is not just what happens in New York City,” he said, arguing that billionaires fear working people elsewhere will stop hating each other over differences and instead “stand together and fight for a government that represents all of us.” He called for rebuilding the US trade union movement and the political system, ending the influence of super political action committees, and said the Democratic Party must become “a party of the working class.”
Workers involved in major union organizing efforts in the US—Amazon, Starbucks, REI, Delta Air Lines, and Wells Fargo—were also on the program. Sanders closed with a warning that if Trump and his fellow oligarchs get their way, democracy will be undermined and workers could be “thrown out on the street with no recourse.” Still, he offered a counterpoint: the good news, he said, is that if people stand together and don’t let Trump and his friends divide them, there is “nothing that we cannot accomplish.”
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