In a fiery new address from Capitol Hill, Senator Bernie Sanders broke his silence on the ongoing government shutdown, calling out Republican leaders for “abandoning working families” — while admitting, for the first time, that Donald Trump is right about one thing.

“Even Donald Trump, interestingly enough, just acknowledged this morning that the shutdown has been ‘worse for us Republicans than for them,’” Sanders said. “And you know what? He’s right. The Republicans are getting killed.”

The remark — a rare moment of agreement between the longtime progressive independent and the former president — came near the end of a sweeping, 10-minute statement that ripped into the GOP for refusing to negotiate over a budget deal.

Sanders outlined the consequences of the five-week shutdown, saying that millions of Americans are already feeling the pain: unpaid federal workers, underfunded hospitals, and families facing cuts to food assistance and healthcare.

“Incredibly,” he said, “at a time when kids are going hungry and air traffic controllers aren’t being paid, the Republican Speaker of the House has given his members a six-week paid vacation. That is beyond belief.”

The senator warned that the so-called “clean resolution” proposed by Republicans would double healthcare premiums for up to 20 million Americans and cut off coverage for another 15 million by slashing Medicaid funding — a move he argued serves only one purpose: to fund massive tax breaks for the billionaire class.

“Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg — they don’t need another tax break,” Sanders said sharply. “And they certainly don’t need it paid for by working people losing their healthcare.”

He also blasted ongoing bipartisan negotiations that, according to him, offer “empty gestures” rather than real solutions. Sanders insisted any deal must guarantee passage in both chambers of Congress and bear the president’s signature — not symbolic votes that “go nowhere in a hurry.”

The Vermont senator framed the moment as part of a larger moral and political struggle over the country’s direction.

“We are living in a time when working families are under attack, when the billionaire class has never had it so good, and when we are moving every day toward authoritarianism under a president who wants more and more power for himself,” he warned. “We have got to stand tall.”

Sanders concluded by urging his colleagues not to “fold” under political pressure:

“To give in to the Republicans now, despite massive opposition from the American people, would be a serious mistake,” he said.

The speech quickly went viral online, trending under #BernieSanders and #TrumpIsRight, as supporters hailed his blunt honesty and critics debated whether his rare acknowledgment of Trump’s comment marked a new phase of cross-party political realism.