AOC is wrong. The American Revolution wasn’t against the wealthy

Published May 11, 2026 11:44am ET | Updated May 11, 2026 11:46am ET



President Ronald Reagan had Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) number years before she was born. In his famed 1964 speech at the Republican National Convention, Reagan quipped: “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.” 

In recent remarks at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, the New York congresswoman claimed that “the American Revolution was against the billionaires of their time.” It was, AOC asserted, “the heritage of our country” and part of how “America was founded.” 

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