Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York spoke with Jon Stewart on his podcast “The Weekly,” Thursday. In a sprawling interview the 2 talked concerning the billionaire oligarchy Donald Trump represents and the state of the Democratic Celebration.
What makes Trump extra harmful this go-around, in accordance with Ocasio-Cortez, is how far more he has been normalized by the elite class. Describing what we now have been watching the previous few weeks as a “billionaire feeding frenzy,” and “a kiss ass race,” AOC mentioned that “the important thing for people to understand about this administration is that you’re being ripped off … everybody is being ripped off.”
Ocasio-Cortez was essential of the Democratic institution’s reliance on clearly archaic social mores which can be not efficient, however warned in opposition to the nihilism inherent in rhetoric that each political events are the identical.
“When you look at how, for example, Putin has operated in Russia and the way they’ve been able to kind of take things over in these oligarchies, these kleptocracies, they prey on that exact logic, on that exact predicate, which is that everyone’s corrupt and is all corrupt. And so who gives a fuck?”
She added that there are lots of people in Congress making an attempt to do good issues, and folks ought to demand that from their representatives. “When we decide to hold people to a higher standard, then things actually do get better.”
AOC was optimistic about optimistic change within the Democratic Celebration, saying that whereas she didn’t turn out to be the top-ranking Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee, dropping out on an intraparty vote to 74-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly, she was moved into a strong place on power and commerce.
Shortly after the election, the congresswoman appealed on to her constituents by way of social media to search out out why a few of them voted for each her and Trump. “They see two people that are fundamentally anti-establishment,” she informed Stewart. “Two people that do not respect a rule if the rule does not lead to an outcome, like a positive outcome.”
She added that so far as messaging goes, one of many shifts she’s seen is that folks will consider a politician talking on to them. Sadly, that features immigrants in her group who believed Trump when he claimed that solely criminals could be harassed as part of his immigration coverage.
Nevertheless, with an ever-right-moving media, AOC mentioned interesting on to constituents supplied Democrats an actual shot at getting a message by way of.
“If you ask a working-class American or just any normal American, what is a Democrat? What do they stand for?” Ocasio defined to Stewart. “They will not really be able to give you a clear answer. And so our party needs a clear and strong agenda.”
“The stuff that’s crazy to me is like, the answers are stuff, like, we’re just asking for things that our parents and our grandparents had,” Ocasio-Cortez added. “Like, tuition-free public colleges and universities, not new, not new.” She additionally added an enchantment to Medicare for All, and a platform that features guarantees to People younger and previous.
“There are very, very few swing seats left in America. Republicans and this whole system has been gerrymandered that the number of swing seats is so low,” AOC mentioned of why she felt there wanted to be extra progressive candidates primarying much less progressive ones throughout the nation.
“At the end of the day, people who are in Congress want to return to Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez defined. “And the reason that the Republicans have so much enforcement is because they’re more scared of a primary than they are of a general election.”
You’ll be able to watch the entire interview under.
