Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have drawn massive crowds in the American West as a part of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour—and it’s starting to make Elon Musk nervous.
After major rallies in Arizona and NevadaSanders and Ocasio-Cortez held rallies in Colorado, including a Denver rally that attracted 34,000 people.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez say they are drawing some of the largest crowds of their lives, with an estimated 86,000 people showing up over the just five events and over 1.5 million watching via livestream.
“When I talked about oligarchy over the years, I think for some people it was an abstraction,” Sanders told NPR on the success of the tour. Sanders explained that with the rise of Musk and President Donald Trump’s billionaire-rich Cabinet“people understand you have to be blind not to see that what we have today is a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires and for the billionaires.”
“Fighting Oligarchy” rallies are taking place in or near swing-y GOP-held House districts, and not only are they promoting Democratic candidates, but they’re also calling out GOP representatives who have been hiding from angry constituents.
“[W]e are following up with specific actions to pressure their Member to vote NO on any Medicaid cuts or billionaire tax breaks—or else face electoral consequences,” wrote Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser to Sanders.
In Denver, Ocasio-Cortez criticized the Republican Party for its disingenuous culture-war distractions.
“This is what the focus on trans kids is all about. Come on. One percent. One percent of the entire population,” she told the crowd. “If people want to have conversations about that. Take it to the NCAA. It doesn’t need to be on the floor of the United States Congress. We need to be taxing the rich on the floor of the United States Congress. We should be establishing guaranteed health care on the floor of the United States Congress. Not erasing American history on the floor of the United States Congress. We need to be passing a living wage on the floor of the United States Congress.”
The tour caught the attention of Musk, who took time away from pretending to find fraud and waste in the government to promote baseless conspiracy theories about legions of “paid protesters.”
“Someone’s butthurt,” Ocasio-Cortez responded to Musk, adding a yawning emoji. “At the very least you can find a new, more interesting conspiracy theory to peddle.”
In Colorado, Sanders addressed the crowd with Ocasio-Cortez on stage, praising her for her exceptional rise and her unwavering perseverance.
“She has been a great member of Congress but not only that—she has been an inspiration to millions of young people all across this country,” he said. “Now, the reason I say all of that is not just to praise Alexandria—and I love her—but is to tell you and the people of America that what Alexandria did, you can do!”
After a whirlwind series of rallies, Ocasio-Cortez took a moment to share what she described as a “timeline cleanse” on social media.
In these times, it’s something we can all use a few times every day.
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