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"Trump's blatant collaboration with Musk is an attempt to consolidate billionaire power and dismantle democracy as we know it," said Our Revolution.
With U.S. President Donald Trump having little to say since he took office about reducing the high cost of living—an issue he has said won him the election—and his billionaire backer Elon Musk making his way through a takeover of numerous federal agencies, progressive organizers on Tuesday demanded that Senate Democrats treat Trump's second term like the "corporate coup" that it is and end all cooperation with the Republican Party.
"Let's be clear: Musk is not a federal employee," said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. "He was not appointed by the president, confirmed by the Senate, or authorized to have any leadership role in government. Yet, under Trump's orders, Musk is calling the shots—deciding who gets federal funds, raiding classified data, and shuttering agencies established by law. This isn't governance."
As the head of the Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE), an advisory body Trump established by executive order, Musk has seized control of payment systems that send Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as other payments to millions of Americans; placed officials at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on administrative leave and attempted to shutter the agency; allegedly operated an illegal server at the Office of Personnel Management; and begun considering staff and spending cuts at the Department of Education as Trump prepares an order to close the agency.
Our Revolution called the effort "a Trojan horse for dismantling public institutions and replacing them with private, profit-driven control."
"Trump's blatant collaboration with Musk is an attempt to consolidate billionaire power and dismantle democracy as we know it," said the group. "This is not efficiency—it's a coup."
Echoing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-N.Y.) demand that Democrats in the Senate stop cooperating with the president's right-wing agenda, Our Revolution called out the seven Democratic lawmakers and one Independent—Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)—who voted to confirm Trump's nominee for energy secretary on Monday.
The lawmakers "effectively [enabled] Trump's billionaire-backed dismantling of public institutions," said the group.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also joined the call in the U.S. House for senators to do "everything in their power to block Trump's Cabinet nominees."
"The Democratic Party must act as a real opposition party," said Our Revolution, calling on senators to:
Progressive lawmakers and organizers also made their way to the Treasury Department on Tuesday afternoon, attempting to enter the agency and demanding answers about Musk's takeover.
"We need to understand why it is that our Department of Treasury has been broken into, and we need to go ahead and handle the person that decided they were going to have the audacity to go after our information," said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
Our Revolution called for Democrats to take "bold, decisive action to protect democracy and halt this authoritarian takeover."
"This is not the time for silence or half-measures," said the group.
"Voters—and all Americans—deserve better than two corporate-controlled parties," asserted the leader of Our Revolution.
The head of a leading U.S. progressive group on Thursday accused the Democratic National Committee—which will choose new leadership this weekend—of trying to silence rank-and-file activists and voters, showing that the Democratic Party's governing body is failing to connect with the working-class Americans who helped deliver the White House and Congress to Republicans.
"This moment demands a Democratic Party that provides more than just reactive opposition to an administration bent on rigging our economic and political systems in favor of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals on Earth," Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, an offshoot of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign, said in a statement ahead of Thursday evening's final DNC candidate forum. "It demands leaders who put the party's grassroots base ahead of the donor class and articulate a real vision that rejects [Republican President] Donald Trump's corporate rule—starting with renouncing corporate money themselves."
"Unfortunately," Geevarghese lamented, "Democratic leadership is failing disastrously to meet this urgent mandate. Ahead of tonight's forum, the DNC is actively working to silence rank-and-file Democratic activists and base voters calling for a ban on dark money in primaries and the rejection of corporate funding. In a last-minute move, they shut the event off from the public and even deliberately shared the wrong address for where grassroots supporters are allowed to gather."
Trump has forged an unholy alliance between state and corporate power. With the help of Big Tech, Big Oil and other oligarchs, he is ushering in a new era of authoritarian capitalism in America. Where is the Democratic Party? Where is the leadership and where is the opposition required in this mom
— Our Revolution ( @our-revolution.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 10:15 AM
A post-election survey of 5,000 Our Revolution members found that only 14% of respondents were "very confident" that the Democratic Party and its leaders in Congress, state houses, and city halls will fight against the worst parts of Trump's agenda. Furthermore, 88% of survey respondents said they support efforts to transform the Democratic Party into a real opposition party and to get the party to reject corporate money and power, while the remaining 12% said they've already given up on the Democratic Party.
Forty-one percent of survey respondents said they want Our Revolution to primarily focus on fighting Trump and oligarchs, 32% said the group should concentrate on taking back the Democratic Party from the corporate class, and the remaining 27% think Our Rev should prioritize electing progressive candidates.
An
Our Revolution petition signed by more than 10,000 active grassroots Democratic volunteers, donors, and local and state party leaders is calling on the DNC to:
"The question to my mind now is that if there is consensus around the working class confronting oligarchy, then what new ideas are we bringing to the table in how we utilize the power and authority of the DNC?" Shakir said in interview published Thursday by The Guardian. "My election would send the strongest message that we're doing something different."
As The Guardian's Joan Greve noted:
Shakir faces an uphill battle to capture the chair position. He only announced his candidacy earlier this month, while the front-runners in the race—Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, and Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party—have been campaigning for two months. Ahead of the leadership elections on Saturday, Martin claims to have already secured the support of at least 200 DNC members, which would put him within striking distance of a winning majority, although his opponents have questioned that whip count.
Undaunted, Shakir said he is the best candidate for refocusing the Democratic Party on serving its working-class base.
"Can we open the doors and let people in? Can we start from the premise that this is a people-powered organization?" he told Greve. "That we could be and should be in service to others beyond ourselves, that is the core of what I would believe as a kind of organizing philosophy of the Democratic party right now to rebuild the brand."
"The nation is calling upon the Democratic Party to say, 'Hey, we need you,'" he added. "I'm trying to fight the notions of insularity among groups of people who understandably are focused on reforming structures within the DNC. But we've got to think beyond the DNC.