Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took her populist show on the road again, this time to Utah, where the former waitress claimed a solidarity with the working class and excoriated Republican lawmakers who voted for the GOP budget bill that includes $880 billion in cuts at the agency that runs Medicaid.
It’s the same bill, AOC told the crowd, that delivers major tax cuts for the richest Americans.
Standing in front of the branded “Fight Oligarchy” sign on her podium, Ocasio-Cortez portrayed a situation where a massive transfer of wealth from working class to the ruling class was underway — abetted by what she characterized as Republican enablers in Congress keen to slash Medicaid, US Veterans services and more to pay for lower taxes on the wealthy.
AOC: That is the story that Republicans tell—not mine, but all of ours—when they say a waitress or a working person is unqualified to serve in Congress. But the truth is, many of us are far more qualified to understand what real life is actually like than any of them ever will… pic.twitter.com/S0i11UgQjz
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 14, 2025
With a pro-Democrat crowd loudly in agreement, Ocasio-Cortez name-checked both U.S. Senators from Utah, Mike Lee and John Curtis, and two of her House colleagues, Utah Representatives Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy, accusing them of working against their own constituents.
AOC: And you know who from Utah voted for that? Both of your senators—Mike Lee and John Curtis—and House members Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy .
Crowd: Boooo
AOC: They know that’s not what you want. But they also know they’re not there to serve the working class—they’re there… pic.twitter.com/HjSsNdG7JR
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 14, 2025
Ocasio-Cortez said Lee and Curtis were part of a Republican legislative push to “take that money and give it to the billionaires in the form of tax cuts and sweetheart deals.” The New York Congresswoman noted that SpaceX — the Elon Musk-led commercial space business — is a big beneficiary of government spending.
Pointing the finger at the cohort of Republican lawmakers representing Utah, Ocasio-Cortez asserted “they know, Utah, that that’s not what you want. They know that it is deeply unpopular. They know that it hurts working families in Utah. But they’re not there to serve the working class. They’re there to serve themselves and the billionaires who paid them.”
Sen. Lee, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and whose campaign donors can be found here, won his last election in 2022 by a wide margin, amassing more than 53% of the vote as the nearest competitor, Independent Evan Mullin, received less than 43%. Lee is among the Senate’s most ardent supporters of President Trump, Trumpism in general, and Elon Musk’s role in the administration.
X Æ A-XII — undisputed champion https://t.co/yaSvsdD2GF
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 14, 2025