Rallying in Arizona, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) again tried to expand the shrinking tent of Democrats and progressives by addressing his main question to the whole nation — “I don’t care whether you’re a conservative Republican or a Progressive” he said.
“Does anybody think it makes sense,” Sanders asked, “that we have a campaign finance system where one man, Musk, can put $270 million to get Trump elected and then his reward is that he becomes the most powerful person in government?”
Sanders: Does anybody think it makes sense that we have a campaign finance system where one man (Musk) can put $270 million to get Trump elected and then his reward is that he becomes the most powerful person in government?
That is not democracy. That is oligarchy. pic.twitter.com/Ff9EEWxSc4
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 22, 2025
Is Musk, who is the de facto head of Trump’s job-cutting and aid-cutting DOGE agency, really the most powerful person in government, as Sanders asserts? And is Sanders’s conclusion that a system that permits Musk’s purchase of power is “not a democracy” but instead an “oligarchy” also true?
Sanders’s fellow progressive, former Labor Department Secretary Robert Reich, recently shared the graphic below representing Musk’s reach, a map of power any Russian oligarch in Putin’s orbit would envy.
When Trump was sworn in, Elon Musk’s corporations were under more than 32 investigations conducted by at least 11 federal agencies.
Most of the cases are now closed or likely to be closed soon, and the federal agencies are being defanged by DOGE.
Funny how that works, huh? pic.twitter.com/0mtBtc5OTm
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) March 9, 2025
Does Musk use his government power to his personal advantage? Reich implies he does, while Trump insists he doesn’t. The graphic only attests to his multitude of opportunities to be self-serving; those who trust that Musk is serving the country first and not his own interests see no problem with his extensive purview. Others disagree vehemently.
Still, at 83, the leading voice of progressives starved for a young leader to emerge, Sanders seems hopeful to pass the torch to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), or Ro Khanna (D-CA) or Jon Ossoff (D-GA) — whoever can galvanize the people to meet the moment and “fight oligarchy,” as his podium signage instructs.
Ossoff: Trump’s cabinet is worth like $60 billion. That’s not even including Elon. They are literally the elites they pretend to hate.
The President is not at his palace in Florida thinking about whether you can afford daycare or how to stop insurance companies from denying you… pic.twitter.com/s1mmnFTFp2
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 22, 2025
Sanders, for all his star power, remains steadfast in trying to get across the notion that his movement and support are not about one person, but rather “the people” — a trope that many politicians lean on but which Sanders has been unwavering about for his half century in politics.
Crowd: Bernie!
Sanders: Not Bernie. It’s you. pic.twitter.com/Mqc4TAig6f
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 22, 2025