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US POLITICS ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (AOC) Full Remarks: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ... AOC in Tempe, Arizona \| March 23rd 2025 PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQ8s8sKoXY Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
Full Remarks: AOC in Tempe, Arizona \| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 303K subscribers ... 198,382 views ... 19K likes Mar 23, 2025 Full remarks: I am here to remind you of a simple fact. In spite of what Trump wants you to believe, we are not powerless in this moment. I've been on the road with Bernie Sanders these last few days. Here's what I had to say in Tempe. Transcript 0:00 how you doing ASU oh my goodness it is so good to be with you all today are you all ready to rock are you all ready to take our country back we're going to throw these bums out and fight for the nation we deserve thank you all so so much my name is Alexandria Okasio Cortez some of you may know me as AOC but I come to you as a friend as a friend you know my home in New York is a ways from here but in truth the dis I love you too the distance between us is a lot shorter than we think or even that we're told 1:02 and I want to thank each and every one of you for for making the effort to be here tonight i really sincerely thank each and every one of you and the energy in here is so amazing and I want you all to know there's another couple thousand people outside in overflow as well and so if you are in that overflow area Bernie and I are going to go say hi to you too afterwards um but this is what it means to come together and uh you know we were Bernie and I were rallying in Las Vegas uh not too long ago and being here and being with each and every one of you it just reminds me a lot and it connects me a lot to my own story and you know I came from a workingclass family just like 2:00 most of you um my mom cleaned houses my dad was working to start a small business um and p my dad was working because like many of you all they they did everything they could to struggle and scrap everything together just so that I could have a chance so my brother and I could have a shot and and we went to public school and we worked as hard as we could and um when I was a teenager my dad was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer and by the time uh he was by the time I was 18 years old he had passed away and this is so emblematic this the thing about this experience is that while it is so impactful it's actually 3:01 not uncommon they worked so hard their entire lives in pursuit of an American dream and they were well on that way they were providing a a a better life for my brother and I than the one that they experienced growing up but then all of a sudden you're just one event away from everything being ripped out from under you from the rug just being totally snatched and that shouldn't be the way things are in this country we shouldn't be one accident away from catastrophe one natural disaster from losing everything we don't have to live this way and in fact we are all here together because we share in the frustration and the heartache that comes from watching 4:01 people in power actively tear down or refuse to fight for everyday working Americans like us we are here because an extreme concentration of power and corruption is taking over this country like never before but we are also here because we know that a better world is possible but to get to there we need to be honest about where we are right now we are witnessing an oligarchy in America when those with the most economic political and technological power destroy the public good in order to enrich themselves at the price of 5:01 millions of Americans and the thing is our political system is illprepared for this kind of abuse of power in fact much of our political system enables this kind of corruption starting with the role of money in politics but I am here to remind you all that we are not powerless in this moment people are starting to put the pieces together and ironically the most divisive forces in this country are actually starting to bring more of us together and that's important because the same billionaires who are taking a wrecking ball to our country derive their power from dividing 6:01 working people apart they specialize in getting us to turn on one another along lines of left or right of race and gender of status of creed of culture of who you love they will throw out every label and judgment and cultural debate in the book in order to keep us distracted because the last thing they want us to realize is that the actual division in this country is between those at the very very top and their endless greed costing the lives of everyone else and that's why we must stand together arizona we got to get ready for this fight now I understand that their disdain for working people by some of 7:02 the most powerful people in this country doesn't just come from not being raised right okay this disdain is shorthand for the rights entire political agenda and a certain ugly kind of politics in this country and that is lying to and screwing over working and middle class Americans so that they can steal our health care social security and veterans benefits in order to pay for their tax cuts for the billionaires and bailouts for their crypto friends and you know what Arizona there's a certain kind of word for this kind of thing corruption and I understand what it feels like to watch all of this stack up 8:00 how from how overwhelming and brazen all this selfishness selfishness is the constant headlines and notifications dismantling the Department of Education trying to end birthright citizenship the things that make us American i understand how overwhelming it can feel and it can make even the best of us want to give in to despair to feel tired to feel like there's not much worth fighting for because when the system is stacked against you it's hard to feel like anything you do matters it's hard to feel like we matter in this democracy and it is easy to give in to the despair and I can tell you I know that when I was waitressing and struggling to put food on the table for a while there I did i tried to stop caring i tried to just keep my head down 9:01 work my shifts and accept and accept that this is just how things are but that is no way to live arizona it's no way to live what I do know is that we don't have to live like this and in fact we cannot live like this anymore and you know I'll tell you Donald Trump does see the immense pressure that working people are under but his answer to that pressure is an America that operates on a logic of every man for himself and I do say every man for himself cuz he sure doesn't believe in women's rights but now that Trump is back in power we can see it clear as day he's 10:03 canded the keys of this country to Elon Musk and is and is selling off the United States for parts to the richest people on the planet for a kickback and in exchange these billionaires and corporations and lobbying industries will back his campaigns and fund and fund them as well as those of his allies they scratch his back and he scratches theirs and the rest of us get left behind and and I'll tell you the clever thing about what these guys do is that they sell working people like you and me on the idea that we're just one step out of being in that club too that that you're just a little bit away from being one of them grind set mindset right 11:03 except those kinds of spoils that they are rolling in are not earned they aren't working for those billions of dollars they're stealing them they're stealing them from you and you and you and your mom and your grandparents and all of us just look at what Elon and Trump are doing to our health care to our veterans benefits and to Social Security they are slashing the programs that we have spent a lifetime paying for by the way not them because these billionaires have not paid their fair share in taxes in years so we are paying into this and they are trying to take it and mind you even if you aren't on Medicaid or Medicare this raises your private health 12:01 insurance costs too and let's talk about Medicaid and Medicare for a second because just a few weeks ago every single House Republican voted to cut Medicaid in this country and so many of them now are 'Oh no we didn't it didn't say Medicaid in the bill it's No no no no no no they voted to cut 880 billion dollar from the committee that governs Medicaid and they voted for that now you see the thing is these budgets are not just fights about numbers we need to understand that they are fights over our values as a country because Medicaid Medicare and Social Security were promises that we as a people have 13:01 made to each other about the kind of country we are and the kind of society we want to live in and I don't know about you Arizona but I want to live in an America that guarantees healthcare to every person i want to live in an America that has a living wage for every person i want to live in America where you have free speech to express yourself and not be afraid of getting put on a list or deported but these promises that we've made they are not promises from politicians to the people or they're not charity from billionaires to everyday Americans they are promises we have made to each other neighbor to neighbor friend to friend teacher to 14:00 student family member to family member that we want to live in a society that is not depraved not every person for themselves but all of us standing together this is the promise that we make to each other as Americans and to me the strength of our country is not only measured by the height of our best days the strength of our nation is about who is there for you and what happens on your worst day and that's why I'm here for you with you today because I want to share with you exactly what I mean because what they call radical I believe is common sense i believe that in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world if a person 15:02 gets sick they shouldn't go bankrupt common sense i believe that a minimum wage should cover the minimum cost to live common sense and by the way we should also see that not paying a a living wage is actually a form of corporate welfare too because these big companies like Walmart and Amazon often rely on food stamp programs and public coffers to cover the wages that they won't pay to people i believe that homes are not slot machines for investors and big banks to extort working families out of every last dollar that they have a home is sacred and when your 16:01 landlord doubles your rent overnight or housing prices skyrocket because Wall Street treats our housing market like a casino your government and your public servants should fight to help you keep an affordable roof over your head i believe that our elected officials should take on abuses of corporate greed everywhere they find it we must get big money out of politics that is how we make clear that our country is not for sale and Arizona that is why I don't and never will take money from industry lobbyists or corporations you know Fox News [Applause] 17:03 thank you thank you thank you you know folks Fox News would have the rightwing would have you believe that these American values are something out of the Communist Manifesto and that that we believe these things because we went to some college and read them in a book somewhere but I can tell you that I don't believe in healthc care labor and human dignity because I'm an extremist i believe these things because I was a waitress because I scrubed toilets with my mom to afford school because I worked double shifts to keep the lights on because I did lose a parent to cancer as a kid and had to see my mom open the hospital bills a couple days later 18:01 because on my worst day I know what it feels to feel left behind and I don't want us I don't want any of us to live like this anymore we deserve better Arizona we deserve better than this and let me tell you something this isn't just about Republicans either we need a Democratic party that fights harder for us too but but that means here's what that means that means our communities each and every one of us choosing and voting for 19:01 Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class and Tempe I want to give you your flowers for a second because you all have been working overtime to make that happen in fact one thing I love about Arizonans is that you all have shown that if a US senator isn't fighting hard enough for you you're not afraid to replace her with one who will and win and that's how you got two fantastic senators in Mark Kelly and Ruben Ggo and that's not all last week when Republicans put up their draconian spending bill on the 20:00 House I want you to know that your representatives Yasmin I'm sorry who's here tonight she's around yasmin I'm sorry and Greg Stanton along with along with Ruben Ggo and Mark Kelly they all stood strong and voting no against the DC pressure and said we will not agree to sp to a spending bill that cuts billions from working people but the thing is we need more people like them with the courage to brawl for the working class but you know what you know which Arizonan did vote to gut Medicaid and jack up healthcare cost david 21:00 Schwiker so folks you know what that means we need to come together and spend every day for the next year and a half working to get to educate other Arizonans and give Schwiker the boot and replace him with a brawling Democrat who will stand up for Arizona defend your champions defend your elected officials taking risks to fight for us and don't stop there i want you to look at every level of office around and support Democrats who fight because those are the ones who can actually win against Republicans but beyond elections our bigger task is to build community block associations volunteer groups PTAs 22:01 church organizations causes all around you this is the connective tissue that can dismantle fascism because community is the most powerful building block we have to defeat authoritarianism and root out corruption so I'll end where I began we might all come from different places but we share a lot of the same experiences [Music] so your representative so to all those who came here today unsure of whether this is where you belong I want to say to you all that you do honestly no matter no matter who you voted for in the past no matter if you 23:00 know all the right words to say no matter your race religion gender identity or status no matter even if you disagree with me on a few things but if you are willing to fight for someone you don't know you are welcome here if you are willing to fight for working people regardless of who they are how they identify or where they come from you are welcome here because here everyone is valued every life is valued but I will say this those leaders on either side of the aisle who are willing to put their fellow Americans down so that they can get ahead or feel better about themselves those folks might best find a home 24:00 elsewhere because in this house we stand together because here we know that together without exception is the only way that we can win this fight and so I hope that you see that this movement is not about partisan labels or purity tests but it's about class solidarity it's about the thousands of you who came out today to stand together and say our lives deserve dignity and our work deserves respect no matter who we are or where we come from we are here to make a sacred promise to each other today to take care of each other on our worst days and to share in the successes of our best so with that I want to introduce to you 25:01 all a man who has spent his entire life trying to bring us together you know I know that one of the things that inspired me to run for office for the first time is that when I saw Senator Sanders on television and I was I was wiping tables down and saw the TV on and saying every person in this country deserves health care as a human right and I know it made me feel it made me feel almost for the first time that this isn't something that we should earn this is something that should be afforded to all of us because we are human because we are human and I just want to I just want to thank him and so let's give him the most 26:03 the most earth shaking round of applause when we come out everybody Senator Bernie Sanders to the people power to the people power to the people power to the people power to the people power to the people around

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