yes, senator slotkin, you're absolutely right that no one outside DC knows what oligarchy means. that's why 20,000 people in *checks notes* salt lake city showed up to an event with AOC and bernie literally called "fight oligarchy"
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
We need to be more like the Bills tailgate. Everyone's drunk and gets along, shares beers, wings and snacks and despite never winning a Superbowl and losing 4 in a row still have a huge diehard fan base 😂
These people are so very out of touch and so condescending. It starts to seem they’re hiring consultants that actually work for the Republicans to give them advice.
Besides, I grew up in Michigan as she did. Surely she must have learned in High School that the 1970s/80s Detroit Big Three were an "oligopoly" - not the same word, but same prefix and idea.
Think small, and I mean tiny, rural town with all the storefronts shuttered. They don't know what it means. Please stop thinking everyone lives in a big city. That's how we lost.
Dems in this arena say we need to avoid acting elitist. Then they proceed to insult people by saying they don’t understand or resonate with XYZ. I think that’s being elitist 🤷🏻♀️. Also, woke is only a negative if you allow the narrative to be corrupted by others. Own that shit unapologetically.
Except there is one king and there are many oligarchs destroying this country. People need to be cognizant of how the rich have worked to destroy democracy for decades. Getting rid of trump fixes nothing. The oligarchs are really in charge, not him. He’s their useful idiot.
Yes, there is a deeper problem. That said, the voters have all kinds of perceptions about what "bad" looks like. Every active Republican is (imho) & the people that wrote Project2025. 34-felon (also imho) isn't an idiot; he's studied Hitler, been raised a raciest & wants
to be "king" and that means bribing, conning & attracting the same types (Musk, JD, Mike Johnson, etc.). His other "rich" sycophants see $ with his/GOP 50yr agenda/plan & the US Treasury is the pot of gold. We have an "oligarch" problem but we also have a bigger "traitor" problem: the GOP
The GOP (granted, some are rich!) anti-Constitution plan has been in the works for a lot longer; McConnell & SCOTUS packing, Roe v Wade, Civil Rights, voter suppression, Jan 6th, etc.
The oligarchs are opportunists. The Republicans are traitors: 2 impeachments, Jan 6th, 2020 election denials.
and how many of those 20,000 voted Democrat? She should have said "the people we're trying to reach* don't know....". Because, living in Ohio, I am confident saying she is more correct than she is wrong.
Yes, so the messaging she's talking about isn't really for/about them, you see what I mean? Do you know a lot of low-info voters that know what an oligarchy is? The MAGAs in my family (ugh) sure don't, and they're college-educated.
The answer to people not being familiar with the word is to define it for them, like the tour is doing. A thing which the GOP tries to do with some brand new word or phrase every cycle.
Exactly. That’s what branding is. Bottom line is, that AOC, Bernie and several others are tapping into what seems to be the sentiments of the largest swath of anti MAGA, ProDemocracy voters. Their huge gatherings are demonstrating support for their populist message.
"Doesn't resonate beyond coastal institutions" really shows the contempt she has for anyone in a red state. They really think everyone in Oklahoma, South Carolina, etc. are drooling morons not worth their time or effort.
But you can speak to how it was in 86 as if it's the same in 2025 without mentioning it until you get pushback. 🤦♂️ Chew on that while I kindly mute you.
Same here. She's saying her constituents are too dumb to know what "oligarch" means? Myself and many other Michiganders understand that word and use it regularly, as well as "primaried". That's a word she should get used to hearing.
Peters really pisses me off because he seems to have taken a right turn in his “quest” to be known as a “bipartisan” Senator- he is not running again, he should be tearing it up
"Progressives are like children. We neoliberal parents and guardians need to guide them with love and platitudinous euphemisms. They're just not ready for the real world yet."
Same. As soon as she did her response to Trump’s address and brought up Reagan, I knew this is not the Dem Senator we need in this moment. If you can’t read a room, what good are you right now?
Sounds like it's going to be a 4-way race between Haley Stevens, Mallory McMorrow, Abdul El-Sayed, and (possibly) Joe Tate. Haley Stevens will probably get all the union money and El-Sayed will get the Bernie cash, but I think I'm rooting for McMorrow as it stands right now.
If the language were her issue she could just say “the bosses” or “ruling class.” But her issue is that she’s a cia ghoul whose entire life’s work has been and continues to be forcing pro-oligarch governments on people who don’t want them
OK. But it doesn't hurt to explain it from time to time. This 20,000 people will be voting with us. We need to make things as clear as we can to those who might not.
@slotkin.senate.gov if you have a problem with oligarch, we can use robber baron. Would you understand that better? Make no mistake we know who the enemy is, it’s the 1%.
If she comes out and makes a statement about Democrats being weak and needing to abandon being "woke" then stick a fork in her; she's f-ing done.....go over to the Rs.
I think that's exactly why she said it. She's not talking to voters: she's telling donors she's not with AOC/Bernie and won't try to be. I imagine a lot of conservative Dems will pick that up in the next few weeks as they wring their hands over the ActBlue lawsuit.
I suppose it's a fair question what the distribution is, with "can produce a definition and examples and counterexamples" at one end of the scale and "reads it as a synonym for 'the present BS'" at the other end. OTOH any point on that scale could help knock over stuff.
Yeah, no. When stupid people don't know what's going on the job is not to coddle their willful ignorance, but to attempt to alleviate it. If they're educable. And that's on them.
I just heard Rahm Emanuel say this on Katie Couric's podcast. I guess "We can win over Republicans if we stop using the word oligarch because they're too uneducated to understand it" is the new Democratic strategy.
They don't understand it's not vocabulary; it's just that MAGA loves cruelty.
Yeah, let's listen to the lady that invoked Ronald freaking Reagan in her state of the union rebuttal. Bernie and AOC drawing massive crowds? Let's talk about everything but whatever they are doing that is resonating with people. SMH
These idiots are going to go further to the right and isolate progressives. Dems couldn't win if a Republican destroyed democracy and ruined the economy.
I don’t agree that we need to stop using the term, but having grown up in Michigan near Slotkin’s district, I do believe a lot of people need a better explanation of what it is.
Yes I think she’s right here. And I think people on this site is a bit too eager to nitpick and then attack democrats they’ve already decided they don’t like. It feels like a big waste of energy.
Corporate Democrats like Slotkin are pushing this garbage as a way to undercut the chance of shifting the party to the Left. Their corporate donors have too much to lose if their constituents are aware of the class warfare between the working and ruling class.
Exactly, people do know, because they live it every day. When wealth &power are concentrated in the hands of few, &the many are told to be grateful for crumbs, you don’t need a poli-sci degree to recognize what’s happening. SLC showing up in force is proof the public isn’t ignorant, they’re fed up.
Should channel the energy of Lion's Campbell? I think she's talking about football? (honestly had to look it up because Minnesota Lions didn't sound right, lol) And assuming the context, a coach? But sure, let's stop talking about a word no one knows 🙄
A lot of Americans apparently think they, incorrectly, know what “socialism” and “communism” are. That’s because of decades of right wing demagoguery calling everything they don’t like those things. Just maybe if Dems correctly demonized “Oligarchy”enough people would get it and put a stop to it.
If I were making an argument with a load-bearing claim of "no one knows what oligarch means," I probably would not include a suggested replacement that is not a synonym.
But what do I know? Other than what oligarch means, that is.
TBF (Utahn) those 20K might be ALL the Utahns who know what it means. I do think we'll have to get creative to reach the other 3M. I showed a counter-protester my "We the people" sign at the last rally, and he thought I was a 47 supporter too, so maybe we can just trick them into joining the cause
“The Russian OLIGARCHS that support Putin shouldn’t be able to spend their weekends shopping in Monaco and Paris — and the Administration should go further and signal our preparedness to impose costs that cut deeper into the bone to deter invasion,” Slotkin said.
Slotkin still doesn't fucking understand the right wing game. No amount of rhetoric or strategy will give Slotkin an amount of political purchase on the right that overcomes her liability of being a homely woman.
Her very first vote in congress was to tell Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the party to screw off. She was a Washington insider that moved back to MI for the sole purpose of running, and then her Senate campaign accused her primary opponent of being a carpet bagger.
It's incredibly tedious that Democrats believe they have to sway with the wind while the opposite party constantly proves you can simply make your preferred topic front and center.
Yet again, they fail to grasp that this never ends unless we address the disinformation issue.
"uh, fight what? fight ol... oli... whut? why do these coastal elites always use big words that nobody understands??? just call it Fight The Bad Guys Or Whatever."
The stupid thing about this is that we've had 30 years of being told that Russia is an oligarchy, so most people absofuckinglutely do understand that oligarchy is bad even if they don't know the precise textbook definition.
I teach civics and government to seniors in HS, and oligarchy is the political form that all of them reliably and instantly despise. (Particularly the kaki- variant we are dealing with now)
To be fair I don’t think she’s talking about people like us. There definitely are people in this country who are that stupid, and who either can’t or won’t look it up in the dictionary
Hold on. She got elected in Michigan (Harris lost). She served our country. Her advice (from this snippet) is only that “no kings” is easier to communicate to some folks than “no oligarchy”.
Can we please not do the circular firing squad when the MAGAts are stepping on rakes on the daily?
Slotkin is ex CIA and was on the NSC’s Iraq desk during the W Bush administration. Her service to the country was somewhere between criminal and incompetent.
The Iraq War was treasonous in its conception and utterly incompetent in its execution. Our inability to grapple with that is a major part of how Trump became ascendant, and anyone who participated in it without vigorous apologies should be blacklisted from positions of power.
Dems major problem is thinking winning elections is “getting the right message”, as if it’s an analytical exercise. It’s like arguing over how many angels can fit on the head of a pin.
The easy but tragic example is DEI. Ppl don’t know what the hell it is, all they know is they don’t like it. Same
What's not to like about DEI? It's better than having white men hire other white men, not based on competency, but connections, or how we got Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
2/w Obamacare.
The reasons Sanders and AOC are showing success are: 1-they have an authentic msg abt income/struggle ppl can relate to bcz they live it daily; 2-they have a villain; and most importantly, 3-they repeat it ad infinitum.
It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference if you call it oligarchy
3/ or some other word so long as it’s repeated ad infinitum and linked as the villain for ppls’ ills.
What’s missing from the Sanders AOC speech as yet are statements abt empowerment (I would say, “the rich have no hesitation making govt work for them—Elon $38B—but shout “socialism” when
4/abt you make govt work for you. So let us be clear: you have JUST AS MUCH RIGHT to make the govt work for you as they do for them. In fact, MORE of a Right: they bribe govt officials, YOU DON’T”
Republicans accuse Democrats of being 'communist'. The main takeaway with this labeling is that it describes something 'unamerican' something oppressive. I think the term 'oligarchy' is defined by who says it (Bernie & AOC) the Trumpian- billionaires who are oppressing regular Americans.
this is what I see - they specifically chose her as the "moderate" alternative to AOC to try and shortsheet AOC being pushed by the voters for a '28 ticket
Slotkin couldn't win, but they hope she can block AOC from advancing to the Senate or WH ticket
This whole, don't call the fascists any mean names, approach is how we got here in the first place. Chasing after the imaginary swing voter is the worst possible approach.
References to Oligarchy is an accurate description of the reality of the situation.
A preference for "Kings" metaphorically obscures the reality, Oligarchs can join in the condemnation of aspiring Kings without embarrassment.
I saw a protest in Crenshaw's district today near his office! This is a fairly wealthy suburban area of Houston metro & generally red. Signs were themed around "No Kings"
You can tell these people are just asking to get primaried at this point. They know their time is dwindling and they want to try and salvage what they can from it before they get left behind while real leaders lead for them.
Centrists want the focus only on Trump because they like the status quo. Money will continue to buy politicians, Democrats will pretend to have their hands tied behind their back, and if they win an election cycle, the next cycle the GOP ratchets everything further right. We need a hostile takeover
I live on 20 acres outside of Show Low, AZ. I know exactly what oligarchy means. I have had Google on every device since I can remember and have looked up terms in dictionaries before that. How dumb does this woman think we are?
"No kings" is fine and useful at times, but is insufficient because it focuses on Trump's destructive lawlessness, as opposed to the rich freaks that helped put him there. Any attempt to obscure that truth is unacceptable.
But the problem goes beyond just “a” king. What about Bezos/Zuckerberg-types, hedge fund billionaires and so on who are doing everything from taking out local & national media outlets to buying up properties in a struggling housing market to insider trading. This isn’t just about Trump/one leader.
Say what you want about them Mormons, but they (the mainstream ones, not the fundies) be some educated magic undie wearing mofos, especially compared to most red states and segments of the population.
My free-associating scumbag brain always flashes to that “Honest High-Speed Internet Ad” video where the parody spokesperson says “Don’t like it? You can oligobble our balls, you’re stuck with us.”
"Centrist" Dems are going to be the fall of the party. If the 🩸Republicans hadn't gone full naked corruption and Nazism to make the Dems look good in comparison, they'd be fucked.
She only won by like 19K votes after a massive ballot curing effort when pitted up against one of Michigan's least-liked politicians. You'd think she'd be less flip about bashing similar numbers of people.
Seriously, right? We've got about 18 months to build a big enough ward to banish her into the corn. She was my rep and she's just awful. Plus side - if she runs for the Senate maybe we can stick Andy Levin back into that seat again.
I’m from Bumfuck, Kansas and I know what oligarchy means. MAGA politicians talk to their constituents like they’re idiots (because reasons) but we’re not morons just because we don’t live on a coast somewhere.
And furthermore, switching to "no kings" is an extremely obvious distraction attempt to avoid the dem establishment reckoning with its own shitty oligarchical situation.
Ironically, assuming that middle-class midwesterners can’t understand a four-syllable word is exactly the sort of coastal elitism she’s trying to avoid
For the love of god can any dem just stop focusing on what the message should be and how to say it and just start standing up for what they believe? I don’t give a fuck what you call it just stop pontificating and do something
Wasn’t this someone who was pretty high up in the CIA?
No wonder we’re so fucked. The people employed in our so-called national security organizations are empty- headed numbskulls and wouldn’t recognize a real threat to this country if it hit them in the head
If I remember correctly, they did it in response to the unpopularity of Carter at the time followed by 8 years of Reagan due to the social tendencies towards the "Me Generation" & "Yuppies" within the Boomer generation.
How little does she think of the public, when she assumes we can’t glean what “oligarchy” means…& how little does she think of the Dem party, when she assumes they shouldn’t even bother to try & educate people on what “oligarchy” means?
Meanwhile GOP hammers “DEI”, “critical race theory”, etc.
To be fair, none of those people know what critical race theory is either, but you’re right, it’s not a good look for Democratic leaders to suggest their supporters are too dumb to appeal to directly.
I think plenty of people know what critical race theory is — in part because the GOP amplified it, & in response people either got informed about it from trustworthy sources, or ate up the BS definition of it that right-wing propaganda was doling out.
I kind of agree with her on the oligarchy rhetoric. Yes, just say kings. And crime families. And corruption. And protection rackets. And greed. And cheating. And greedy corrupt rich people cheating by buying votes.
I am so tired of disingenuous establishment dnc asses gaslighting us. We can see right through you miss ma’am. BYE. I didn’t like the crap she spewed after that address to Congress either.
Did they really though? Maybe they showed up to find out if AOC knows how to knit Bernie’s mittens. It’s not as if we are all witnessing the oligarchy takeover our government in real time.
🎯
Wild to me, as a person with family roots in Detroit, that someone who attended a private high school locate on 300 acre campus in one of the wealthiest areas of the country has put herself forward as the interlocator for the working classes.
Cranbrook --> Cornell --> Columbia -->assembly line??
Yep. I don’t think it’s DC v. the country, but the message isn’t compelling for some. If they see a picture in the paper or on cable of a pol standing in front of a podium, how does “fight oligarchy” connect if the concern is food prices? How many will (or even can) google it, as suggested by some?
I know what it means, but the working-class guys at my dayjob do not. I've had to explain it every time I use the word. (Authoritarian too)
Don't we want their votes too?
Disagree. This is not about people being stupid, it's about better advertising. If half of Rs can't define it correctly, use different words. We need more catchy slogans. "No kings" is good. "The rich don't own us," maybe.
(SLC Metro has 1.2 million people, so 20k is not huge.)
I prefer broligarchy but agreed--what Slotkin is pitching is actually ignoring the also millions of people that came out to protest & all of their signs, many of which absolutely included the word "oligarchy".
Leaders gotta lead. Fuckin Fetterman said people don’t understand fascism. If you don’t explain it to them, they might not ever know. Bernie and AOC can explain it. It’s not that hard- rich fuckers running everything and screwing over the little guy.
Comments
The Bills have Josh Allen, but any politician who says we need to be "more like the Bills" should be catapulted out of office immediately!!
Is there any reason we can't use "oligarchy" as well as "king"?
Falling for clickbait is exactly what they want us to do!
Work smarter!
The oligarchs are opportunists. The Republicans are traitors: 2 impeachments, Jan 6th, 2020 election denials.
It’s the age of internet!
When we don’t know what a word means we look it up! Instant knowledge!
I’m sorry to report that their public schools are crazy good
"chew on that" nah I got faex to do
It’s as viable an explanation as anything else.
#SaltLakeResistance #AltRealityUSA
Also, throwing your constituents under the bus by saying midwesterners don’t know the word oligarchy is, um, dumb.
They don't understand it's not vocabulary; it's just that MAGA loves cruelty.
They understand what it *is* but don’t use the word.
https://www.newsweek.com/senate-democrats-voting-trump-most-often-2023675
Thinks Americans are unable to understand the word OLIGARCHY.
Ok, ya houseplant.
Let's fix that 👩🏫
Here's a primer, please share far and wide!
♻️💪🏼👩🏫💙💯✌️
#Oligarchy
#NoKings
#AmericanDemocracy
#FightBack
#WeAreTheResistance
#WeThePeople
#ElbowsUp
#Kakistocracy
#Kleptocracy
#Blue💙💙
Harris won by 10 pts in Salt Lake County and likely much more in the city proper
https://electionresults.utah.gov/results/public/salt-lake-county-ut/elections/general11052024
But what do I know? Other than what oligarch means, that is.
CIA Slotkin is a traitor.
Yet again, they fail to grasp that this never ends unless we address the disinformation issue.
Dems need to understand that the way you get people to understand something is to repeat it a million times. Someone please primary this woman.
Just waiting for Abigail Spanberger to say Democrats should “fucking eliminate child labor laws” or something
This is one of the reasons you're such a good follow, Marisa😉
Can we please not do the circular firing squad when the MAGAts are stepping on rakes on the daily?
PLEASE?!
You’re still a gnome.
Why so many anti-Americans on Bluesky? Maybe Kremlin thinks it’s a vodka and potato fanboy site.
The easy but tragic example is DEI. Ppl don’t know what the hell it is, all they know is they don’t like it. Same
The reasons Sanders and AOC are showing success are: 1-they have an authentic msg abt income/struggle ppl can relate to bcz they live it daily; 2-they have a villain; and most importantly, 3-they repeat it ad infinitum.
It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference if you call it oligarchy
What’s missing from the Sanders AOC speech as yet are statements abt empowerment (I would say, “the rich have no hesitation making govt work for them—Elon $38B—but shout “socialism” when
Slotkin couldn't win, but they hope she can block AOC from advancing to the Senate or WH ticket
A preference for "Kings" metaphorically obscures the reality, Oligarchs can join in the condemnation of aspiring Kings without embarrassment.
Weird.
It’s almost like Carville is advising her.
No wonder we’re so fucked. The people employed in our so-called national security organizations are empty- headed numbskulls and wouldn’t recognize a real threat to this country if it hit them in the head
Previously, we called it a kind of cronyism, kleptocracy, graft, or just plain old corruption.
Meanwhile GOP hammers “DEI”, “critical race theory”, etc.
They don’t know what it means. I promise you.
Wild to me, as a person with family roots in Detroit, that someone who attended a private high school locate on 300 acre campus in one of the wealthiest areas of the country has put herself forward as the interlocator for the working classes.
Cranbrook --> Cornell --> Columbia -->assembly line??
Don't we want their votes too?
(SLC Metro has 1.2 million people, so 20k is not huge.)
Here's a great podcast on it: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/americas-hidden-duopoly_radio/
Boom 💥 💥 💥 💥