(Crankers) Nothing says standing up for poor people and fighting the oligarchy like spending $15,000 PER HOUR on private jets.
And don’t get me started on the climate. You know we can’t concentrate on more than one scandal at a time, so let’s stick to wasting money on private jets while calling out these wasteful boneheads.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sparked a new wave of headlines earlier this year after reports confirmed they used private jets while traveling for their joint “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. The news kicked up plenty of debate online, mostly centered around optics, but the details are pretty straightforward.
Federal Election Commission filings show that Sanders’ campaign spent more than $221,000 on private jet charters in the first quarter of 2025. Several outlets reported that the two lawmakers were spotted exiting a Bombardier Challenger 604, a luxury jet estimated to cost around $15,000 per hour to charter. The flight was part of a multi-stop tour that took them through California and several other states for a series of rallies and events.
Snopes also confirmed that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez did in fact use a private plane for part of the tour. The flights were paid for using campaign funds, a legal and relatively common practice among high-profile national politicians who need to travel quickly between events.
Sanders has publicly defended the decision. When asked about the private-jet use, he said the campaign schedule simply made commercial travel unrealistic. “You think I’m gonna be sitting in a waiting line at United Airlines while 30,000 people are waiting?” he told one outlet, pushing back on the idea that the travel was hypocritical. His point was that the pace and scale of national campaign events often require chartered flights to stay on schedule.
Ocasio-Cortez has not commented extensively on the issue, but she was part of the travel arrangements and appeared alongside Sanders throughout the tour. Coverage focused largely on the optics because both lawmakers are outspoken critics of wealthy elites and frequently argue for reducing carbon emissions. Critics argued that using private jets undercuts those messages. Supporters noted that every major national political figure, from both parties, uses private air travel during heavy campaign seasons.
It’s worth noting that there is no allegation of wrongdoing here. Chartering private aircraft for campaign events is allowed as long as it is properly reported and paid for with campaign funds, which filings show it was. The discussion is mostly about consistency with public messaging, rather than legal or ethical violations.
The tour itself drew large crowds and was aimed at mobilizing progressive voters through the 2026 election cycle. The private-jet discourse emerged after photos circulated online showing the pair exiting the aircraft, prompting questions and commentary across social media and political news outlets.
Just think of all the useful things these two could’ve done instead of flying around on private jets to scream at people and accomplish absolutely nothing.
Total waste of time and money.
Here’s a video of them: