Sen. Bernie Sanders with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a rally in Staten Island, New York on April 24, 2022 (John Nacion/Shutterstock.com)
Four and one-half months into Donald Trump's second presidency, two of his prominent critics on the left — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), both self-described "democratic socialists" — are touring the United States together and bringing their anti-MAGA agenda to large audiences.
The fact that they come from different generations is no coincidence. Sanders, at 83, is a member of the Silent Generation, while the 35-year-old AOC is a Millennial. And Sanders views her as important to his multi-generation outreach.
During an interview with The Guardian's Zoe Williams published on June 4, Sanders laid out his recommendations for an anti-Trump game plan. And he believes that Democrats need to be much more aggressive in pushing an economic message.
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"Their weakness is, I think, that their credibility is now quite low," Sanders said of Democrats during the interview. "And they don't have much of a message for working people, other than to say Trump is dangerous. I think that's just not enough… What the Democrats have to absolutely make clear is this: We're going to take on the billionaire class. They're going to start paying their fair share of taxes."
Sanders continued, "We're going to have healthcare for all people as a human right. We're going to have a strong childcare system that every American can afford. We're going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We're going to create millions of jobs transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel. We're going to build housing — boy, housing is, like it is here, just a huge crisis. We're going to build millions of units of low-income and affordable housing. Do Democrats say that? No."
The Vermont senator warned that Trump is even more extreme during his second presidency than he was during his first.
"We don't usually have presidents suing the media, threatening the media if they write bad stories about them," Sanders told The Guardian. "We don't usually have presidents threatening to impeach judges. We don't have presidents suing law firms. You add all that together, it is a movement for authoritarianism. …. First time around, Trump was not as well-organized."
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Sanders continued, "They've had four years to get their act together, so to speak. And that’s what this Project 2025 document was about…. One of the frightening aspects of what's going on is the degree to which the establishment-type folks have caved in, and so quickly. That was much less the case during Trump's first term."
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Read The Guardian's full interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders at this link.