The unsung hero of Trump’s fraud case: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Authoritarians like Trump gain power by exploiting public cynicism. The more that voters believe that all politicians cheat the system, the more decent citizens will give up engaging meaningfully in politics at all. Eventually, the only people left in politics are the ones with no vision of a better world beyond a bitter desire to stick it to racial minorities, LGBTQ people and women. Getting people to believe in equal justice and functional government is a necessary prerequisite if folks like Fetterman and Ocasio-Cortez are to make any progress on the social and economic issues that matter most to them.

Goo_bubbs,

I’d love to be able to vote for her for President some day.

Redarm_Vanin,

Look she’s definitely at the top of the pack for US politicians who care and want to do good for us, and I appreciate her to that degree, but I’m still upset she voted with the party to stop the rail unions from striking.

JackiesFridge,
@JackiesFridge@lemmy.world avatar

After which the Biden admin kept working with the railroads and unions to get the workers’ demands met - and largely succeeded to no headline coverage.

theguardian.com/…/railroad-workers-union-win-sick…

Redarm_Vanin,

vice.com/…/the-freight-rail-labor-dispute-was-nev…

Still neoliberal incrementalist bullshit. Support unions, full stop.

dumdum666,

I envy you guys in the US for having this woman as one of your politicians

akilou,

But we have all of the other ass hats too. I’m not sure we’re coming out ahead.

Zorque,

The only people not singing about her are the ones shouting obscenities at her.

She's hardly some underground figure hiding in the shadows while "fighting the good fight". She's very much a public figure.

JoBo,

Mebbe read the article before commenting? It anticipates, and answers, your idle cynicism.

In our era of 24/7 media onslaught, four years can seem like like four lifetimes, so it’s easy to forget that when Ocasio-Cortez arrived in Congress in January 2019, there was a lot of curiosity and outright skepticism about her among the Beltway press. She’d gotten there in improbable fashion, winning a 2018 primary against Rep. Joe Crowley — a power broker in Queens who chaired the House Democratic caucus and was seen as a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi. Before that, Ocasio-Cortez had been working as a bartender in a Manhattan taco joint. So the media was watching eagerly to see whether she’d rise to the occasion or fall flat on her face.

Ocasio-Cortez’s first big test came in February 2019, when Trump’s former personal attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, testified before the House Oversight Committee. Cohen was about to go to prison for a campaign finance crime committed at Trump’s behest, and told a genuinely moving story of crime and betrayal. But most of the Democrats on the committee whiffed this opportunity to ask questions of a guy who had been nestled within the Trump gang for years. Instead, they devoted their time to grandstanding for the cameras, rather than learning any new information about Trump’s illegal dealings.

Except, of course, for the young congresswoman from a working-class, multiracial district in Queens and the Bronx.

DogMuffins,

Legendary.

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