bernie sanders aoc
US Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont, and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Democrat of New York, speak to supporters during the "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado on March 21, 2025. Getty Images

The "Fighting Oligarchy Tour" drew thousands as Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attempted to energize Democratic opposition to the Trump administration.

Sanders' communications director told NPR that an event in Denver, Colorado drew more than 30,000, surpassing any crowd Sanders drew while running for president twice.

Starting on Thursday, the tour had stops in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tempe and Tucson, Arizona, and Greeley and Denver, Colorado.

"We will not allow you [Trump] to move this country into an oligarchy," Sanders said at one stop, according to NPR. "We're not going to allow you and your friend Mr. Musk and the other billionaires to wreak havoc on the working families of this country. No, you're not going to destroy Social Security. You're not going to destroy Medicaid. You're not going to destroy the Veterans Administration."

The tour comes amid frustration by some within the party at what they see as a fairly listless approach to opposing Trump administration policies, punctuated by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's surrender in a budget showdown earlier this month.

"Ironically, the most divisive forces in this country are actually starting to bring more of us together," NPR quoted Ocasio-Cortez at one event. "And that's important because the same billionaires who are taking a wrecking ball to our country derive their power from dividing working people apart."

An NBC poll earlier this month found that the Democratic Party's population had fallen to an all-time low with only 27% of registered voters saying they had a positive view of it.

The poll found that Democrats wanted the party to take a harder stand opposing Trump policies, NBC News reported.

"With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand. It needs to be rebooted," Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates told NBC News.

Originally published on Latin Times

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