By In response to President Donald Trump’s initiatives to reduce the federal workforce, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have launched the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, aiming to mobilize their liberal base in defense of government bureaucracy. The tour has seen significant attendance, with events like the one in Tempe, Arizona, drawing approximately 15,000 attendees—surpassing the turnout of Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Sanders, clarifying that he is not pursuing another presidential bid, has argued that the increasing influence of the billionaire class undermines the interests of everyday citizens. At these rallies, Sanders has openly criticized Trump and Musk, accusing them of endangering working families.
The Wall Street Journal writes that as Democrats tussle with each other on Capitol Hill and struggle to find a strategy to combat Trump’s fast-moving agenda, Sanders is stepping into the void and pitching his prescription for how they can start winning again. The Democratic caucus might look dead on its feet in Washington, but in Arizona voters are fired up, at least for a night. And colleagues are starting to borrow from his playbook.
With the words “FIGHT OLIGARCHY” projected all over the hockey arena, Sanders and his progressive protégé Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) railed Thursday against Trump and Musk. It was a vintage Sanders performance, complete with his surveying the crowd for examples of people living paycheck to paycheck and calling for free college and universal healthcare. But Sanders was angrier and had a longer list of what he deemed as threats—as well as a ripe new target in Musk.
Addressing Trump, Sanders said: “I’m not going to allow you and your friend Mr. Musk and the other billionaires to wreak havoc on the working families of this country.”
Sanders, 83, has gone after billionaires for decades, and now one of the richest men in the world is leading Republican efforts to cut the federal workforce. The blowback has sparked new enthusiasm for the self-described democratic socialist who pushed for a vast expansion in the U.S. safety net. The broader question facing the left headed into the next election is whether Sanders’s brand of economic populism is a path forward for drifting Democrats—or an energetic but politically dicey sideshow.
Despite criticism from Republicans, who label the tour as mere political posturing, the events are gaining attention. Some Democratic lawmakers are adopting similar rhetoric; for instance, Senator Mark Kelly recently cautioned against Republican efforts to reduce public services to justify tax cuts for billionaires, asserting that the wealthy would remain affluent even with higher taxes.
Neither Ocasio-Cortez nor Sanders mentioned Alex Soros, the leftwing billionaire who routinely posts pictures of himself with Democratic politicians.
Look who supports George & Alex Soros.
DEMOCRATS!They don't care about America or you! pic.twitter.com/M4DQ3tEAzO
— Cait Braxton (@FeralFeline25) March 14, 2025
Many have viewed the tours as Sanders passing the leftwing torch to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, noted The New York Times. “Though there is little agreement about who will emerge to guide progressives into a post-Sanders era, virtually everyone interviewed said there was one clear leader for the job: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
And it just so happened that Mr. Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez spent three days last week on a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour through Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. In Denver, they drew 34,000 people, what Sanders aides said was the largest crowd of his career. Neither has so much as obliquely referred to the torch-passing nature of their trip, and in an interview, Mr. Sanders declined to answer questions about whether Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, would inherit his mantle. But the subtext of their travels appears clear.
She is what’s next — if she wants it.
‘Alexandria has been doing an extraordinary job in the House,’ Mr. Sanders said. ‘You can’t sit back. You can’t wallow in despair. You’ve got to stand up, fight back and get involved in every way that you can. There’s nobody I know who can do that better than Alexandria.’”
The New York congresswoman has long been rumored to be running for president in 2028.
Unlike Bernie Sanders, who has long championed gun rights and other liberal values like freedom of speech, AOC is closer to the typical leftwing politicians across the world. Under the guise of “misinformation,” she has pushed for censoring conservatives and labeled those who run the “He Gets Us” ads about Jesus as “fascists.” She is also an ardent supporter of the Green New Deal and has, at times, appeared to play footsie with antisemitism.
Last summer she pushed a conspiracy theory in which she claimed that Donald Trump intended to put her in jail.
Naturally, polling has shown that she represents “the core” of the Democratic Party. The same poll revealed that only 29 percent of the country views the Democrats favorably.
[Read More: Biden Wants Back In]
