‘This is oligarchy’: A beloved Democrat calls out the rich post Trump re-election

“This is oligarchy,” says Bernie Sanders of the current state of the States. Senator Sanders, we’re painfully aware.

Bernie Sanders took to X to lambast the combined wealth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, three billionaires that have recently become “$232 billion richer” and are now worth nearly a trillion dollars combined. Meanwhile, over half Americans are living “paycheck to paycheck” the Senator points out, attributing this Grand Canyon-sized gulf between the average citizen and the elite to an economy that works for only “the few” and not the many.

The idea of American oligarchy isn’t a revolutionary new thought, but a painfully familiar one. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the scales fell from the average U.S. citizen’s eyes with regard to the financial stratification of power in the United States. For some, the moment of truth may have come in 2020, with the knowledge that while the economy was stagnating during a global pandemic, the billionaire class became a collective $637 billion richer. For others, the awful realization may have come during the Great Recession of 2008, when a housing bubble created by corporate greed burst, and took the homes ands jobs of millions of Americans with it. Or perhaps the day came long ago, when the “trickle down” economic policies of Ronald Reagan caused America’s wealth to stream in the exact opposite direction. Like a frog slowly boiling in a pot of water, most Americans likely can’t pinpoint the exact moment they knew that something was very wrong with the U.S. economy, but according to Senator Sanders, 60% of Americans are beginning to feel the burn.

Should the economic plans of Donald Trump go into effect during his second term, the heat will only climb. According to a study conducted by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, Donald Trump’s proposed tax policy will cause a tax hike for every American save for the 5% wealthiest – who will be receiving a tax break. The study also concluded that bottom 20% of earners will see their income tax hit the hardest, at a rate double the amount of the median 20% of earners. Trump’s tariff plan will cause similar economic woe, the president-elect’s trade war on China and Mexico will, according to corporate executives, likely cause an increase in the price of goods across of slew of retail chains. Meanwhile, the personal net worth of Space X CEO Elon Musk has ballooned up to nearly half a trillion dollars in December 2024, and is only expected to increase.

Some users on X were quick to lend their support to Bernie Sanders’ claim, saying that the benefits America’s economic policies lump onto the nation’s wealthiest citizens are indicative of deep financial, political, and moral corruption. This user puts it in layman’s terms, calling America a “morally bankrupt shithole.”

Meanwhile, other X users spoke out against Sanders, saying that the Senator’s own personal net worth, despite being a public servant, is only another symptom of American corruption. The oligarchy, these users reason, extends to wealthy Democrats who hold political power as well.

It’s a disturbing thought for left-leaning United States, who see the Democratic Party as the only respite that Americans have against the creep of corporate influence. Sadly, power is unconcerned with political allegiance. If history can teach us on thing, its that power, no matter who wields it, corrupts absolutely.