Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told a packed crowd at Arizona State University’s Mullett Arena to keep up the resistance against President Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and the services it provides.
In Tempe, the fourth stop on Sanders’ “Fight Oligarchy” tour through battleground states, the progressive duo urged voters to fight to take back the country from ultra-wealthy interests like those of Musk, Trump’s billionaire advisor, to wrest control of government from the working class.
“We have a message for Mr. Trump,” Sanders said. “And that is, we will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy. We’re not gonna allow you and your friend Mr. Musk and other billionaires to wreak havoc on the working families of this country.”
Sanders, an independent who has long been a leader of the progressive movement, acknowledged that those currently in power — and those who have influence on those in power, with seemingly unlimited amounts of money and control of the economy — may be in charge for now.
“From the bottom of my heart, I am convinced that they can be defeated,” he said.
Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez warned that those in power are seeking to stay in power by dividing the nation.
“They specialize in getting us to turn on one another,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Along lines of left or right, of race and gender, of status, of creed, of culture, of who you love — they will roll out every label and judgement and cultural debate in the book in order to keep us distracted.”
Ocasio-Cortez urged voters to resist the urge, she said, to think like Trump — to care only for oneself, she said.
Fighting for affordable health care, a living wage and affordable housing are goals that make the lives of every American better — not “something out of a communist manifesto,” she said, referencing criticisms of progressive made by some Republicans.
“I can tell you that I don’t believe in health care, labor and human dignity because I’m an extremist,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I believe in these things because I was a waitress.”
She also called on Arizonans to be picky about who they send to Congress, while praising Arizona congressmen and the state’s two U.S. senators, Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, for voting against a GOP spending plan last week.
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