German (DE) 
English (US) 
Spanish (ES) 
French (FR) 
Hindi (IN) 
Italian (IT) 
Russian (RU) 
3 hours ago
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk at a huge rally in Arizona on Thursday, accusing them of “screwing over” working- and middle-class Americans as they turn the country into an oligarchy.
Speaking to an overflowing arena as part of his Stop Oligarchy tour – a series of events with the progressive New York congresswoman that has attracted huge attention among Democratic supporters disillusioned with what they feel is the party’s otherwise tepid reaction to Trump’s radical agenda – Sanders, the senator from Vermont, warned the president:
“We will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy. We’re not going to allow you and your friend Mr Musk and the other billionaires to wreak havoc on this country.”
Ocasio-Cortez put it differently: “We’re going to throw these bums out and fight for the nation we deserve.”
Sanders, who is independent but votes with Democrats, trained some of his sharpest attacks on industry titans.
“You know who the biggest criminals are in this country? They are the CEOs of major corporations who are robbing us every single day,” he said.
“They are the fossil fuel industry that has lied to us for years about what they’re doing to the planet. It is the drug companies who charge us the highest prices in the world and people die because they can’t afford those drugs. It’s the insurance companies who deny claim after claim. Those are major criminals.”
The rally was the pair’s second of the day, following an earlier event in Las Vegas, as the progressive political stars continue on what has become a particularly high-profile tour that also features events on Friday in Colorado – including a town hall in Denver featuring Alvaro Bedoya, an FTC Commissioner who was abruptly fired by Trump this week. On Saturday, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will return to Arizona for a rally in Tucson.
During the event in Arizona on Thursday night the pair also offered a sharp critique of their own party.
“This isn’t just about Republicans, either. We need a Democratic party that fights harder for us, too,” Ocasio-Cortez said, drawing some of the loudest, most sustained applause of the event.
Several rallygoers said they would like to see Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat of New York, challenge the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, in a primary race after he relented and helped Republicans pass a funding bill last week to avert a shutdown.
Ocasio-Cortez made no explicit mention of Schumer or her future political ambitions, despite intermittent shouts of “Primary Chuck”.
She called on attenders to help elect candidates “with the courage to brawl for the working class” and praised Arizona voters for electing two Democratic senators. She then swiped the state’s former one-term senator, Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democratic party while in office to become an independent, and then declined to seek re-election.
“One thing I love about Arizonans is that you all have shown that if a US senator isn’t fighting hard enough for you, you’re not afraid to replace her with one who will,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Sinema recently resurfaced old comments by Ocasio-Cortez attacking the then-senator over her refusal to abolish the filibuster, a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to pass most legislation. Last week, House Democrats implored their Senate counterparts to use the filibuster to block a Republican-drafted funding bill.
“Change of heart on the filibuster I see!” Sinema posted on social media.
“Still no. In fact, the same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster ‘for when we need it’ do not, in fact, use it when we need it,” Ocasio-Cortez shot back.
Comments