LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told a crowd of more than 1,000 people Thursday that billionaires were taking more power in Washington, D.C., but working people could still band together to fight back.
Sanders spoke at the only Nevada stop on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, in which he's visiting swing states to rally Democrats and progressives in the early days of the second Donald Trump administration.
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He was joined by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nevada Congressman Steven Horsford, both Democrats, at the rally, held at the Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas. More than 1,000 people turned out.
Promising to "do something radical" and "tell the truth," Sanders railed against billionaires who have increased their wealth while the gap between those at the top and everyone else widens.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk — who is heading an effort to cut government spending under Trump — Amazon.com owner Jeff Bezos and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg collectively are richer than the bottom 50% of people in the United States, 170 million people, Sanders said. And the top 1% of people own more wealth than the bottom 90%, he said.
"There's something very wrong today when so few have so much, and so many have so little," Sanders said. "So my view is, that while I am not a mathematician, I do know that 99% is a hell of a lot bigger number than 1%."
Sanders said that life expectancy for the working class in the country is seven years shorter in the United States than for wealthy people, a statistic he attributed to the financial stress of trying to make ends meet.
And he repeated his longtime call for a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system of the kind used in other major countries, as well as eliminating a "corrupt" campaign system that allows corporate money to influence elections.
It's views like those that prompt Republicans to label Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez as socialists, which was also the case on Thursday. The National Republican Campaign Committee also criticized Horsford.
"We’ve seen this stunt before: billionaire-funded activists staging phony protests to manufacture outrage. Now, Steven Horsford is running the same pathetic play — pushing partisan theatrics instead of serving Nevadans," said campaign committee spokesman Christian Martinez in a statement.
But Ocasio-Cortez shot back that her experience as a bartender and waitress in her youth informs her views, and helps her relate to the struggles that working people face now.
"You know, Fox News and the right-wing will have you believe that these American values are something out of 'The Communist Manifesto,' that we believe these things because we went to college and read them in a book somewhere," she said. "But let me tell you, Fox News. I don't believe these things, I don't believe in health care, labor and human dignity because I'm a Marxist. I believe it because I was a waitress."
Although some in the crowd shouted encouragments for Ocasio-Cortez to run against U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., she gave no indication of her future plans. Many on the left are angry with Schumer because he and eight other Democrats — including Nevada's own Catherine Cortez Masto — voted for a Republican continuing resolution in order to avoid a government shutdown.
For his part, Horsford — who headed the Culinary training center before being elected to Congress — said the economy should be a more level playing field than it is now.
"The economy should work for the working people who built it," Horsford said. "If you put in the work, you deserve a living wage."
Sanders in his remarks defined such a wage as at least $17 per hour. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but many states, including Nevada, have set wages higher. In Nevada, it's currently $12 per hour.
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According to organizers of the Fight Oligarchy tour, more than 50,000 people have said they will attend rallies this week alone. In addition to Las Vegas, stops are planned for Denver, Tempe and Tucson, Ariz. and Greeley, Colo. Previous stops took place in Wisconsin and Michigan.
