©  Greg Nash

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) is set to headline town hall events in Western states with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) beginning Thursday, as progressives outline a strategy for a “populist revolt” to fight back against President Trump.

Sanders’s rallies across the Midwest have drawn huge crowds, with thousands of supporters in small towns and rural parts of the country gathering to hear his message on lifting the working class.

Those events have been among the few bright spots for Democrats, who have largely struggled to land on a consistent message or united front against Trump during his second term. Polls show the Democratic Party’s brand is at a historical low point, while Trump’s approval rating is hovering near all-time highs.

Sanders adviser Faiz Shakir said he’s received countless questions from Democrats about how the 83-year-old is able to marshal such intense enthusiasm in surprising parts of the country.

“We’re living in an intensely populist moment right now: it’s not ‘left versus right,’ it’s 'very top versus everyone else’,” Shakir wrote in a new memo titled "The Populist Revolt Is Happening."

“Trump continues to outperform the Democratic brand because even while chaotically pursuing regressive policies and gradually sinking in the polls, he retains some populist appeal by showing open confrontation with political elites," the Sanders adviser writes.

"The Democratic brand is struggling because voters do not see Party leaders as 'top 1 percent versus bottom 99 percent' warriors; instead it is too often understood as focusing on anything but core economic issues.”

Shakir said he expects “more and more working class voters will become disillusioned” with Trump’s policies and that Democrats can recapture that support if they adopt Sanders’s “class-based economic fights that both decry the corruption of our political and economic systems and combine that with bold action.”

“Only then will the Party be given governing authority and popular mandate to do something about it,” Shakir wrote.

Sanders’s step back into the spotlight has predictably ignited questions about a possible third presidential run. But he told The New York Times earlier this year: “I am 83 years old. I do not think I’m going to be running for president.”

The first Democratic lawmaker has publicly called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to step aside following his vote to advance the GOP’s stopgap funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.

“I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he had a great, long-standing career,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) told constituents at a forum in his district. “But I’m afraid it may be time for Senate Democrats to choose a new leader."

Ivey at times faced anger from Democratic constituents who attended the town hall and demanded the party do more to stand up to Trump.

“You are too calm," one attendee said. "Show some fire like you’re trying to fight for the American people."

Schumer has been widely criticized by Democrats, who were spoiling for a shutdown fight.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) backed Schumer’s leadership, but made a cutting remark about his handling of the funding battle:

“I myself don’t give away anything for nothing,” she said.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), a billionaire and potential 2028 presidential candidate, called Schumer’s funding strategy “wrong,” but he urged Democrats against descending into a civil war.

“I do not think that Democrats should be jumping into internecine warfare,” he said in an interview with Semafor.

Democrats are making billionaire Elon Musk and his efforts to scale back the federal workforce a focus of their attacks, but a troubling rise in vandalism against Tesla vehicles and dealerships could complicate those efforts.

Tesla vehicles and showrooms have been set on fire or hit with bullets and molotov cocktails, The Associated Press reports, as vandals take out their anger at Musk through his flagship company.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this week that attacks on Tesla property will be investigated as “domestic terrorism.” 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the "despicable violence."

"We would like Democrats to also come out and condemn this heinous violence that we have seen," she said.

Musk is a prime target for Democrats on the trail as they seek to harness anger at a billionaire provocateur who is one of Trump’s top advisers.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who has been conducting town hall events across the country, joked at a recent event that he looks at the Tesla stock slide on his phone every time he “needs a little boost during the day.”

“$225 and dropping!” he said to big cheers.

Musk responded in an interview with Fox News Channel’s “Hannity.”

“They basically want to kill me because I’m stopping their fraud,” he said.

Tesla’s stock has declined for eight weeks in a row as the brand has become more politicized.