[L]ITTLETON, N.H. — Sen. Bernie Sanders has long talked about the threat of climate change, but in campaign stops Tuesday he took aim at the fossil fuel industry, whose influence on Congress, he says, must be reined in.
“What we need is a movement to stand up to that greed and tells the fossil fuel industry, ‘Sorry, the future of the planet, the well-being of our kids and our grandchildren is more important than your short-term profits’,” Sanders said to cheers from a group of about 100 people in Berlin at a campaign stop on Tuesday.
Other top-tier candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have also recently targeted the fossil fuel industry with rhetoric that is not dissimilar to that of climate activists and fervent supporters of the Green New Deal.
Sanders echoed climate scientists’ warning that the U.S. has no more than a decade in which to dramatically curb its use of gas and oil.
The Vermont senator made climate change one of three policy positions he emphasized in his 40-minute stump speech to voters in Berlin and Littleton, New Hampshire, Tuesday. He also pitched his Medicare for all proposal and comprehensive gun control.
Fielding a question from the Berlin audience about the Trump administration weakening the Endangered Species Act, Sanders said that it is important to focus not only on climate change but also on environmental protection.
“Look, what can you say, we have one planet and if we don’t preserve it for our children and our grandchildren, what kind of custodians of the planet are we,” Sanders said.
Over the weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, Sanders said climate change represents more of an immediate threat to U.S. national security than terrorist attacks by ISIS or Al Qaeda.
The Vermont senator said the president is one of the few climate change deniers and he will always side with “polluters” and large corporations.”
“With the exception of Donald Trump, almost everybody in America understands that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is already resulting in severe damage to our country and all over the world,” Sanders said.
On Saturday, Sanders tweeted that the president “is an idiot” for believing “climate change is a hoax.”
Donald Trump believes climate change is a hoax. Donald Trump is an idiot.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 10, 2019
In the Littleton opera hall packed with about 330 people, Sanders took a question from a young wild-haired military veteran who asked the senator about funding for veterans health care.
Before answering, Sanders joked, “I remember when I had hair like that,” to loud laughter throughout the theater.
After Sanders finished speaking and answering questions, long lines of supporters queued up to take photographs with the senator.
Sanders spent the bulk of his time in both Berlin and Littleton speaking about health care, which has been a key issue for New Hampshire voters during this election cycle.
“No matter how much money the health care industry spends, we are going to beat them and we are going to pass Medicare for All,” said Sanders to loud cheers.
Brandon Villeneuve, a 28-year-old Berlin native who came to hear Sanders, is paralyzed from the waist down after an accident three years ago severed his spinal cord.
“With all the physical therapy I go through, with all the doctor’s appointments I have to go to, the medication I have now, it’s nothing I had to worry about before, but now it’s a concern,” Villenenueve said.
Sanders said the Granite State should expect to see advertisements from the health care and pharmaceutical industries explaining why his Medicare for All plan won’t work. He urged voters to disregard industry scare tactics.
Sanders also mentioned Jeff Bezos — the owner of the Washington Post and the online retail giant, Amazon — by name twice on Tuesday, as he railed against large corporations failing to pay their fair share of taxes.
The Bezos call out comes a day after Sanders criticized the Washington Post for how it has covered his campaign.
Sanders also said Tuesday that the mainstream media, along with other institutions have rejected him and his campaign.
“We’re taking on the conservatives in the Democratic Party, we’re taking on Trump, we’re taking on the Republican Party, we’re taking on corporate media,” said Sanders.
The Vermont senator was pressed to clarify his stance on Israel-Palestinian relations, by a young Vermonter named Emma Glazer.
“I’m part of a generation that understands that opposition to the occupation is a Jewish moral imperative,” Glazer said. “Why does it matter to you to fight to end the occupation?”
Sanders responded that U.S. foreign policy should be “even handed” and that there must be an agreement that “works for both parties.”
“Israel has every right to live in peace and security, but so do the Palestinian people,” Sanders said.
“And for someone who is proudly Jewish, to be critical of a right-wing Netanyahu government in Israel is not to be anti-Semitic.”
