(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced a two-date tour to protest the ruling class and the second Trump administration, which he described as an “oligarchy.” But critics quickly reminded Sanders—a millionaire with multiple homes—that he belongs to this powerful elite.
“You are literally a multi-millionaire who owns three houses,” the White House’s Rapid Response account wrote on X in response to Sanders on Friday.
Earlier that day, Sanders had announced “Fighting Oligarchy,” a two-stop town hall event to mobilize leftist opposition against Trump.
You are literally a multi-millionaire who owns three houses. https://t.co/rQrPYLKk3a
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 22, 2025
Sanders’s X post garnered more than five million views but was flooded with criticism from conservatives and Republicans calling out his hypocrisy in claiming to represent the working class while living among the wealthy.
“You took the most donations from Big Pharma in the entire US Senate,” said attorney Rogan O’Handley, better known as DC Draino. Comedian Tim Young echoed this sentiment: “Sponsored by Pfizer and the rest of big pharma.”
These comments refer to Sanders’s well-documented financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Despite calling himself a “democratic socialist,” Sanders received more donations than any other politician in the 2020 presidential election. He has pushed on this claim, insisting that money came from rank-and-file employees, not super PACs.
Further criticism highlighted Sanders’s growing wealth. According to Forbes, he is worth a staggering $2.5 million—wealth he accumulated while in public office.
Sanders entered politics in 1981 as mayor of Burlington, Vermont. He later served as Vermont’s representative-at-large from 1991 to 2007 before successfully running for U.S. Senate. He has twice run for the Democratic nomination for president, first in 2016 and then in 2020.
His fortune comes from real estate, investments, a government pension and large profits from book sales, according to Forbes.
His 2016 book, Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, has sold 220,000 copies, while his other books—Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution and Where We Go From Here: Two Years in the Resistance—sold a combined 53,000, earning him at least $1.7 million.
Derrick Evans, a Republican politician and former member of the West Virginia House, wrote: “Bernie Sanders uses capitalism to self enrich himself while he promotes socialism.”
