On Sunday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) chided the Democrats, saying they lack a “vision for the future.”

The critique was made as Sanders was being interviewed by moderator Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” who brought up the senator’s so-called “Fighting Oligarchy Tour” with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“What Democrats lack right now is a vision for the future,” Sanders said. “How are we going to provide a decent standard of living for a younger generation, which, everything being equal, will be poorer than their parents? How do we repair a broken healthcare system? How do we raise the minimum wage to a living wage? How do we deal with a corrupt campaign finance system that allows billionaires to control both political parties?”

He added: “Those are some of the issues that need to be discussed. And we’re going out around the country right now asking people – working people, run for office. They want to run as a Democrat? Great. They want to run as an independent? That’s great. But you got to get involved in the political process, because right now, the two party system is failing the working class of this country.”

Sanders made the comment in the middle of responding to a question from Welker, who asked if he was trying to start a third party given his two failed campaigns in the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries over the years.

“No, we’re not trying to start a third party,” Sanders said. “What we’re trying to do is strengthen American democracy, where faith in both the Democratic and Republican parties right now is extremely low.”

He said that Democrats are “appropriately” talking about President Donald Trump’s “movement toward authoritarianism” while opposing the GOP’s reconciliation bill and the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk.

Sanders also pushed back against Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who urged Democrats to stop harping on the “oligarchy” because the term does not resonate beyond coastal institutions, according to POLITICO.

“I think the American people are not quite as dumb as Ms. Slotkin thinks they are,” Sanders said. “I think they understand very well, when the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90%, when big money interests are able to control both political parties, they are living in an oligarchy. And these are precisely the issues that have got to be talked about.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio fired back Sunday over a “misleading headline” that claimed President Donald Trump’s immigration officials had “deported” three American citizens, all of whom are minor children.

Rubio took issue with the claim itself, telling “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker that the three children were citizens and had not been deported at all, explaining that they were welcome to return to the United States at any time and had only left because their mothers — who were in the country illegally — chose to take them along when they were deported.

WATCH:

.@SecRubio nukes @kwelkernbc on the latest misleading Fake News hoax: “Three U.S. citizens ages 4, 7, and 2 were not deported — their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers! … The parents make that choice.” pic.twitter.com/IJt1Lz1xWN

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 27, 2025

“On the headline, that’s a misleading headline,” Rubio protested. “Three U.S. citizens ages four, seven, and two, were not deported — their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers!”

“If those children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if their father or someone here wants to assume them, but ultimately who was deported was their mothers, who were here illegally,” Rubio continued. “The children just went with their mothers. But it wasn’t like — you guys make it sound like ICE agents kicked down the door and grabbed the two-year-old and threw him on an airplane, that’s misleading! That’s just not true!”

Welker pushed back, asking whether it was the Trump administration’s official policy to “deport” American citizens if they were children whose parents were in the country illegally and thus subject to deportation.

“Is it the U.S. policy to deport children, even U.S. citizens, with their families — and I hear what you’re saying — without due process, just to be very clear?” Welker asked.

“No, no, no,” Rubio objected. “No, no, again: if someone’s in the country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported. If that person is with a two-year-old child, or has a two-year-old child, and says, ‘I want to take my child with me,’ well then what —? You have two choices. You can say, ‘Yes, of course you can take your child, whether they’re a citizen or not, because it’s your child.’ Or you can say, ‘Yes, you can go, but your child must stay behind.'”

Rubio noted that would create a whole new problem, saying, “And then your headlines would read, ‘U.S. holding hostage two-year-old, four-year-old, seven-year-old, while mother deported.’ The parents make that choice.”