AOC and Bernie Sanders urge Democrats to fight harder during stop in North Las Vegas

At a time when Democratic leadership faces pressure to  push back on Donald Trump’s agenda, progressive leaders Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders say grassroots activism has never been more important. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t necessarily care if you voted for the Democratic party in last November’s election — or even if you voted for Donald Trump. 

Whether you’ve long rejected Trump’s brand of politics or are just now souring on his reversal of key campaign promises, his gutting of the civil service, or his increasingly-brazen coziness with billionaires, what matters now is that you make your voice heard, the New York congresswoman  said Thursday in North Las Vegas. 

“This isn’t just about Republicans, we need a Democratic party that will fight harder for us” Ocasio-Cortez told a crowd of roughly 2,000 rally attendees at the Craig Ranch Amphitheater. “We must get big money out of politics and make clear that our country is not for sale.” 

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks came as part of the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour — a nationwide series of stumps alongside US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and other local advocates in part to rail against Trump’s second-term agenda, but also to harness the growing public demand for a 

unified opposition amid what many perceive to be complacency among Democratic leaders. 

Sanders noted billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos — all of whom donated millions to Trump’s campaign or inaugural fund — control more wealth than the bottom 60% of American workers, the majority of whom he said are living paycheck–to-paycheck.

“Today we are here to say very loudly and clearly, ‘No! We will not accept an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires run the government,’” Sanders said to raucous applause. “We have a president who undermines the Constitution every day, and is working aggressively to take away our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.” 

That angst reached a fever pitch high last week after 10 Democratic Senators — including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada — broke with the rest of their party to pass a stopgap spending bill that averted a government shutdown. Supporters of the bill said a shutdown would have impacted social services and forced many federal employees to work without pay. But the bill also ceded additional powers to Trump to reallocate funds without Congressional approval. 

As Ocasio-Cortez took the stage, the crowd broke into chants of “primary Schumer!” and several attendees questioned the effectiveness of the current Democratic leadership. 

“How are [the Democrats] proactively going and preventing some of these things from the Trump administration from happening? So that we’re not being reactionary and wasting money in the courts and looking like you’re sitting on your hands,” Las Vegas resident Jalise Perkins said. “Get off your butt and say something.” 

Sanders highlighted a push by Republicans who are considering a Trump-endorsed tax cut package that would require roughly $1 trillion in spending cuts to federal programs — including an estimated $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance coverage to about 800,000 Nevada residents. Advocates say those cuts, if actualized, could reduce coverage for more than 300,000 Nevadans, all America’s most wealthy would be the primary beneficiaries of the tax cuts. 

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“Donald Trump sees the immense pressure that working people are under, but his answer is to create an America where every man is for themselves,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “In order to pay for even more tax cuts for billionaires, they are slashing the programs that we have spent a lifetime paying into.”

Another rallygoer, Arthur Hernandez, said he’s been a longtime supporter of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, and believes their presence will be key in consolidating a resistance against Trump and at a time when right-wing sentiment seems to be on the rise. 

“I barely sleep now, like seriously, I’m always thinking about what’s going to happen for my grandkids,” Hernandez said. “We’re going backwards, and I never thought that was gonna be happening in my lifetime. I thought we were always going to progress to a better society, where everybody is equal and we don’t judge people, no xenophobia and all that. Now, people are being emboldened to act racist.” 

The event also featured remarks from Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), whose district includes the amphitheater, Clark County Commission Chairman Tick Segerlom, and a representative from Culinary Union Local 226. 

“When the people fight, the people win,” Horsford said. “Because power doesn’t belong to billionaires, it belongs to you — the people.” 

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Horsford, Sanders, and Ocasio-Cortez all acknowledged the reality that Democrats lost control of the House and Senate after November’s election, leaving only a few institutional checks left to the Trump administration. But that underscores the importance of their tour, and the need to begin rebuilding grassroots advocacy one city at a time.

“Giving up is not acceptable, and none of us have the privilege of hiding under the covers. The stakes are just too high,” Sanders said. “Real change only occurs when ordinary people, at the grassroots level, stand up against oppression and injustice and fight back.”