It’s clear that Americans don’t like oligarchs. When the broad left is campaigning against oligarchy and oligarchs, we are on solid ground.
Politico reported Wednesday that Donald Trump has told members of his inner circle that Elon Musk will soon step down from his White House duties. The news came just after Republicans lost — by a whopping ten points — a Wisconsin judge election on Tuesday, in which Musk had campaigned prominently, spent $20 million, and, as if we lived in the worst kind of vulgar kleptocracy, offered to pay people for votes and ballot signatures.
Also on Wednesday, a Marquette University poll showed that 60 percent of respondents disapproved of Musk and his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) destroying the federal government.
As usual, Sen. Bernie Sanders has had the right political instincts in this moment. When Musk began laying waste to everything Americans value, from cancer research to Social Security, Sanders launched the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour through red and purple states. The message to Trump: “We will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy,” which Sanders defined as a government “of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires.”
It’s resonating. Last month Sanders, often with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, drew tens of thousands in Altoona, Wisconsin; Greeley, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; and elsewhere. A crowd of 30,000 in Denver even surpassed the crowds Sanders attracted during his presidential run.
Even at town halls hosted by Republican congresspeople, constituents have been bringing their own anti-oligarchy message. Last month, Republican congressman Mike Flood, holding a town hall in Columbus, Nebraska — where Trump won easily — found himself drowned out by attendees chanting “tax the rich” and loudly booed for his stated support of Musk and DOGE. At similar sessions in other Republican districts, constituents have…
Auteur: Liza Featherstone
