In St Paul, Minnesota, Bernie Sanders delivered a strong speech to the “No KIngs” rally.
He spoke from notes; and the speech was carefully crafted.
For the first one third (almost exactly: to 9:53) of the speech Sanders addresses what he is against. The vocabulary is choice: authoritarianism, oligarchy, kleptocrat, pathological liar, narcissist.
Then there is the pivot:
“I must confess” he says.
It’s an unusual word to choose in this context. It’s almost a signal.
“I must confess I have been thinking a lot about American history”
There is something valedictory about this confessional pivot; a moment of mourning personal and for the Republic.
And after this moment, the speech changes.
He has spent the first ten minutes on the darkness — the authoritarianism, the oligarchy, the vision of hatred and division.
And then at 9:53 he stops.
He confesses.
And everything that follows — the founders, the Declaration, the “no more kings,” the historical roll call, the “yes we can” — flows from that confessional moment. Then he turns his back on Trump: after this he is barely mentioned
The vocabulary changes: courage, patriots, freedom, revolutionary, unalienable rights.
He moves into the language of the Declaration, the Constitution, the long struggle for justice.
And it is History that causes the change.
It is words that protect.
“We hold these truths to be self evident”
For Sanders that is the only armour. His confession is a recognition of powerlessness. Not just his own. Perhaps the powerlessness of the entire machinery of the state to resist what is coming.
But there is one last barricade: the words of Jefferson. Delivered 250 years ago.
Sanders has only words to rely upon. It is actually very moving. An 84 year old man confessing he has only words to protect him.
But what words.
“… life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Sanders quotes this at 11:18. But notice what he does immediately after:
“And today in 2026, our message is exactly the same. No more kings.”
That rhetorical move — 1776 to 2026 in a single breath — is the entire argument compressed into two sentences.
It is worth remembering what Jefferson actually wrote — and what he almost wrote.
The original draft of the Declaration borrowed from John Locke’s formulation: life, liberty, and property.
Jefferson changed “property” to “the pursuit of happiness.”
That change is everything.
Jefferson wrote these words, not for his times, but as a permanent standard. A permanent armour.
Sanders knows this.
For him, the only thing that can “save” the Republic is the power of words.