Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) focused their criticism on Elon Musk in their first joint rally in a tour the two are going on this week.
The progressive lawmakers made their appearance in Las Vegas on Thursday as part of Sanders’s “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that he has been taking around the country. Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford (D) was also present at the event Thursday.
Ocasio-Cortez argued that wealthy people in the country, like Musk, are targeting programs like Medicaid and Social Security to allow for additional tax cuts for rich Americans.
“We are here together because an extreme concentration of power and corruption is taking over this country like never before,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez maintained that an oligarchy is taking hold in the United States, in which those with the most economic, political and technological power “destroy the public good to enrich themselves while millions of Americans pay the price.” She pointed specifically to Musk.
Musk, who has been the face of the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the size of the federal government and carry out mass layoffs across federal agencies, has repeatedly said he wants to go after fraud and waste in the federal government.
But some of his statements, as well as action by Republicans in Congress, have spurred fears that cuts may be made to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, even as President Trump has repeatedly sought to assuage concerns about potential cuts to those programs.
Musk called Social Security the “biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” and recently suggested fraud is widespread in entitlement programs like Social Security.
Trump has said repeatedly that he would not make any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but he has also repeatedly falsely claimed that tens of millions of people who have died are receiving Social Security payments.
Meanwhile, the budget resolution that the House GOP approved calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to make at least $880 billion in cuts for programs under its jurisdiction.
Ocasio-Cortez said the current political system isn’t equipped to respond to the threats and instead permits them through the influence of money in politics. But, she argued, people can come together and fight back.
She referred to the continuing resolution that Congress passed to keep the government open — with some support from Senate Democrats — but that cut funding for some federal programs. She praised Horsford and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) for voting against the bill.
“We need more like them with the courage to brawl for the working class,” she said.
Sanders argued two different Americas exist, with some economically well positioned and most of the rest struggling with deep income inequality. He called the “greed of the oligarchy” the “worst addition” in the country today.
“They are like heroin addicts,” he said. “They need more and more and more. And if they destroy Social Security and Medicaid to get what they want, that is what they will do.”
He said programs that are being targeted for cuts are “desperately” needed for families. He also slammed Trump’s move on Thursday aimed at dismantling the Education Department, arguing that it will make it more difficult for Pell Grant recipients to get funding while costing schools money and causing children with disabilities to lose support they receive.
“Our job in the coming weeks and months is not just to take Trump on every step of the way but to do more,” Sanders said. “It’s to have a vision for where our country should be going.”
Along with their Las Vegas stop, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders plan to make stops in Arizona later Thursday and on Sunday as well as in Colorado on Friday.
