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Sanders Thinks Americans Are Not As 'Dumb' As Slotkin Believes They Are When It Comes to This Term

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  April 29, 2025 8:00 AM

There’s a debate going on among Democrats over how some members of the party are framing their attacks against the Trump administration and its allies. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have hit the road this year on a tour to “take on the Oligarchs and corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this country.”

But Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) recently suggested to Politico that Democrats drop the term “oligarchy” because she doesn’t think it resonates beyond the coasts. MSNCB’s Michael Steele agrees, believing the word is “tone deaf” and “kind of misses middle America.” 

MSNBC Senior Washington Correspondent Eugene Daniels said the same last month. 

“I talked to a bunch of Democrats this week who are happy this tour is happening, just like you, but they agree, they think that the word oligarchy is maybe one that they should skip and go with something like corruption or something like that,” Daniels said. “Something that’s clear and there’s a connection there.”

But Sanders appeared to take offense to Slotkin's suggestion when asked about it by NBC's Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press."

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“She said Democrats should stop using the term 'oligarchy' because it’s a phrase that doesn’t resonate with all Americans,” Welker said. “Are you missing a chance to speak to a wider audience, Senator?"

The senator argued the number of attendees at the rallies shows otherwise. 

“Well, jeez, we had 36,000 people out in Los Angeles, 34,000 people in Colorado,” Sanders said. “We had 30,000 people in Folsom, California, which is kind of a rural area.”

“I think the American people are not quite as dumb as Ms. Slotkin thinks they are,” Sanders said. “I think they understand very well, when the top 1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent, when big money interests are able to control both political parties, they are living in an oligarchy. And these are precisely the issues that have got to be talked about.”

As conservatives have pointed out, there's a lot of hypocrisy coming from the two Democrats on this front.