Alexandria Ocasio Cortez Says U.S. 'Not an Advanced Society' at Bernie Sanders Rally: 'It is Fascism'

New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez railed against the idea of the United States is an "advanced society," saying that we've evolved into a fascist state that only benefits its richest members.

Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at a Venice, California, campaign rally for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders Monday as she expressed contempt for the frequent claim that the U.S. is the world's wealthiest, most advanced country. Several raucous crowd members chimed in and yelled that U.S.culture is actually reflective of right-wing "fascism" and that the wealthiest people are simply using the country's vast resources to enrich themselves.

"We need to fight to start this work, the establishment of an advanced society," Ocasio-Cortez said at the Sanders 2020 rally, prompting chants of "AOC," her initials.

"Because as much as we like to say that the United States is the richest country in modern history...For who?" she asked, echoing the interruption of another crowd member.

"The richest country—who cares about how much gold is being amassed if we can't realize an advanced society with those resources? We're here to say that what we're living in right now is not an advanced society. A society that allows people—it is fascism," the New York Democrat added, responding to the yells of a rally attendee.

"Why aren't we calling it fascism? That's what it is," another member of the crowd interjected. "Drive President Donald Trump out now."

Trump, on the other hand, told members of the military on Christmas Eve about that exact American superiority mentality: "We're the envy of the world right now. Every foreign leader that sees me says 'congratulations, what are you doing, we've never seen anything like it.' They want to do it too, but it doesn't work out so well for them. We are doing something that has never been done before and the numbers reflect it."

Ocasio-Cortez, speaking at the California rally Monday, went on to tout Sanders for having "one of the most ambitious" climate change plans of all the Democratic presidential candidates. The congresswoman told the cheering audience that this past week's spate of Australian wildfires should serve as a warning of what will happen worldwide should the effects of climate change be allowed to worsen.

"His Green New Deal is a solution that actually attempts to be on the scale of the crisis. If you want to know what we risk if we don't act adequately on climate, look at what is happening in Australia right now. The fires are so big we can't even fight them right now," she added.