Sanders and AOC are the duo Democrats need to fight Trump. Will the left listen? | Opinion
Republicans want Democrats to stay the course set by Chuck Schumer. I want a party uprising led by Sens. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are taking the Trump rebellion show on the road – and giving Democrats a masterclass on how to organize ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Since last Thursday, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been traveling the country on the “Fighting Oligarchy Tour,” riling up crowds and keeping the momentum up to fight against President Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. On Friday, they spoke to a crowd of approximately 34,000 people in Denver, championing health care and labor rights while condemning economic inequality and the billionaire class.
“If we stand together, don’t let them divide us up, if we are smart, if we’re willing to go outside of our comfort zones, there is nothing ‒ nothing ‒ that can stop us,” Sanders told the crowd.
Democratic leaders should take note (I’m looking at you, Sen. Chuck Schumer). This is a great first step in rebuilding the party after a brutal election year and the beginning of Trump’s kinglike takeover of the United States. If Democrats can harness this energy, they could create a stronger resistance movement than previous iterations.
Republicans don't want to admit America is divided
Of course, the Republican Party immediately tried to downplay the success of the rally by doubting its size and alleging that attendees weren’t there because they wanted to be.
“The Dems just move around the same group of paid ‘protesters,’ ” Elon Musk said on X.
There is no evidence that this is the case.
Republicans will also dismiss AOC and Sanders as being "out of touch" with what Americans want. These are likely the same Republicans who now embrace MAGA, which used to be the fringe of the Republican Party and now has a stranglehold on it. Like it or not, Republicans have won two of the previous three presidential elections by wielding increasingly extreme politics, not governing from the center.
Are Republicans so deluded that they can’t imagine people would actually be angry enough about what Trump and Musk are doing to go to these events? After all, they’ve been facing angry voters at town halls nationwide. Why is it so surprising that a former presidential candidate and one of the most popular representatives in Congress would draw crowds this large? It seems to me that the GOP doesn’t want to admit that the country is more divided than it claims.
Or maybe they know that Democrats will keep losing if they keep listening to politicians like Schumer?
Democrats should pay attention to what's happening
Democrats would be wise to learn from the Republican shift to the far right and any increasing dissatisfaction with the inability of leaders on the left to adjust.
The Democratic Party is at a crossroads. The party’s favorability rating is at 29% – a record low – in new polling from CNN.
The majority of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents also said that the party should be focused on working to stop the Republican agenda, as opposed to working with the GOP to get some legislation passed.
The era of American politics being about finding a middle ground is over. Someone better tell the party’s elite that this is the case. Between Schumer voting to avoid a government shutdown and California Gov. Gavin Newsom platforming bigots on his podcast, it’s clear that some people haven’t gotten this memo.
I want to see the Democratic Party do better. I want Democrats to be bold in their policy agenda; I want them to do everything they can to stop Trump. Clearly, the message Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders are sharing resonates with voters.
Democrats must widen their tent and accept more progressive views of what the party could be, as opposed to doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.
Follow Paste BN columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno