4mo ago

AOC says Democrats need to elect 'brawlers' to defeat GOP

www.huffpost.com

AOC Says Democrats Need To Elect 'Brawlers Who Fight' To Defeat The GOP

Summary

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called for Democrats to elect “brawlers” who fight for the working class to counter GOP power and oppose policies endorsed by figures like Elon Musk.

Speaking alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders in Las Vegas, she criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for not filibustering a GOP spending bill and labeled the decision a “tremendous mistake.”

Ocasio-Cortez urged voters to support candidates willing to take bold stances.

She continues her “Fighting Oligarchy” tour with Sanders across Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona.

120 comments

And she's fucking right.
Nancy Pelosi has got to go.
The boomers except for Bernie have got to go. (which does not include Nancy, she's fucking silent generation)
We need ACTUAL young blood, not 74-years-young.
- Honestly I think Bernie should go too. He deserves a good retirement after a long career of solid work. We need people in office who can run the show for the next thirty years.
  
  The Democratic Party has been saying Bernie is too old for over 10 years and yet he’s still has more energy & competency than 95% of the lot. He absolutely deserves a good retirement but he’ll never get that.
  
  He deserves it, but he is staying alive by sheer force of patriotism and duty. I don't think he knows how or wants to retire. Not while things are still so fucked up
  
  Bernie should go if and only if he's passing the torch to a suitable replacement. (or by his own choice whenever that would be)
  
  I will miss him, but it's better to select a successor to endorse than to die in office
  
  Yeah me too, he should be trying to find like minded talent to fill his seat. And maybe work on building the "resistance".
  He is great but he is also aging.
- Bernie is so old that he’s a Silent Generation and not even a Boomer, however Bernie has more energy and larger backbone than most Democrats ever have had.
  
  Yes, those things are true. And he's the exception.
- Nancy Pelosi does need to retire but she's better than Chuck "Folding Chair" Schumer.
  
  Would you rather have a 3 ton or a 4 ton elephant standing on your head?
  IOW, it doesn't matter whose worse, they BOTH need to go.
I want AOC, Warren, Jasmine Crockett, and Buttigeg. They have been the only politicians in rank that I've felt have been representing. And Walz, too.
- Don't forget Bernie, he's been going around the country holding how to fight the oligarchy rallies
  
  Yeah 😢 It's sad that an 83 year old is one of our strongest fighters. I believe he is also not seeking reelection.
  
  No. He's been holding "please fight the oligarchy" rallies while saying little to nothing on how.
- Elizabeth Warren talks a big game, but she shrivels under pressure. I'd love her if she were half the person she claims to be.
  
  Honestly, I'll take that any day of the week. It's far better than someone like Newsom who is actively courting right wing figureheads so he can agree with them about how bad progressives are.
  The party would be so much better if we could get rid of the members that hate progressives.
- I would like for them to split off from the party and start a new movement dedicated to fighting for the people. They have the influence to start a way stronger 3rd party than modern is politics has ever seen.
  At bare minimum, they should band together as a new sect of the Democratic Party and establish that their ring of the party advocates for people instead of oligarchs.
  
  They need to do a progressive takeover of the democratic party. Just like how the MAGA extremists took over the republic party
  
  Exactly this. When the GOP had similar problems, they sparked the "Tea Party" that ended up taking over the party.
  We need a "Guillotine Party" to do the same for the Democrats.
  
  I agree with this. The time to split is now.
  
  Then you'll have GOP for decades as the non-GOP vote splits between parties.
  The US is solidly a two party system and you need to work within it.
Yes. Go primary Chuck out of office and make somebody with a fucking spine the minority leader.
And DNC says it's time to just be turtles.
Please let dnc finally clean house
- Turtles is too kind. It's more like fainting goats
- Never will. We need a new party, not a new democrat
  
  No, we need to take over the Democratic party. If you realistically want to actually win as opposed to grandstand.
Either this or we seriously need to consider making anew 3rd party.
- The Dems don't have to reinvent themselves, and they don't have to lie, cheat, steal, commit treason, and be pedophiles to beat the MAGANazis, they just have to play HARD BALL, and make the MAGANazis fight for every single inch of ground.
  
  Yes, exactly this! This is all we ask for have a backbone, have a voice, and stand up.
We need to elect communists and socialists from 1910 you know the ones world governments were so goddamn scared of they started multiple wars to try to eradicate the ideal as a whole. Didn't work but they certainly tried anyway.
- There's a saying that "you can't shoot an idea."
Why don’t we just call a new party the free beers during football party and just snatch up all these idiots real quick to win. We win then we give some free beers out the first game then blame the right for making it illegal because they think beer is socialist so no one can have any for free to keep winning. Over and over. Meanwhile we get some healthcare and college.
You don’t have to thank me for my genius steal it and claim it was yours to begin with. You’re welcome.
- This is such a great idea that I came up. Thank you, me. 😃
Genuine question to our American friends:
How come Bernie, AOC, Crockett etc. don't start their own party? They can pledge to vote with the dems where it makes sense and they have enough political capital to continue getting elected. Seems like an ideal time to create a 3rd (actual alternative) party, no?
It might force the republicans to create an alt right and centre right party too which I feel would erode some of the alt right because from experience most Americans are not that alt right.
- Our first past the post +presidential election system means that a third party, particularly a splinter third party will just pull votes from the not as terrible party, strengthening the opposition parties electoral strength. Funding third parties in close races to split the opposition has been a strategy of both Republicans and Democrats.
  
  That's not quite the reason. The system is setup to vote on individuals. The idea of voting for party is propaganda from the parties. Third party candidates in the modern system tend to fare poorly because the districts have been made unmanageably large and require multi million dollar advertising budgets. Which is money that comes from the party and party endorsed fundraising.
- Because it leaves open the potential for a Democrat v. Republican v. New Party election (at whatever level, not just presidency) and that's likely to improve Republican chances. Where the progressive candidates are strong it's better for them to beat the centrist in a one on one then take on the Republican with their center-left voters. Where they're weak the most a three way contest does is maybe make the right win over the center.
  There are many many races without real Republican challengers where a new party could challenge moderate Democrats from the left, but in those situations the Democratic primary is the real vote and you might as well just win there.
  
  The potential is there, but I doubt it will come to that. The same potential was there for the Tea Party to spoil GOP races. Instead, the GOP became the Tea Party.
  We need a Guillotine Party to drag the Democrats back to the people.
- Bernie already runs as an Independent!
- Can’t say for sure, but I’d wager it’s because of campaign finance. Corpos fund campaigns and a pro worker 3rd party would be inherently against corporate interests. Anyone who tried to break away from the democrats would end up without any funds and new democrats would run against them with vastly more money.
  It’s also worth considering that they’re probably not that popular. Most of the population are disengaged from politics and tend to just vote with the people in their communities. Text based social media tends towards a leftist bias and probably makes them seem more popular than they really are.
- State laws make ballot access difficult. Every state has its own rules and most of them are meant to exclude 3rd parties. Neither Dems nor MAGAts like competition.
- Because we have this stupid two party system. Its the second worst thing about our constitution (the first being the presidency)
- They kind of are in a different party: the Democratic Socialists of America isn’t on the ballot but Bernie runs as an independent who caucuses with Democrats. If Democrats wanted to, they could run a candidate against him. But to form a truly independent third party, you’d just be splitting the votes on the left.
  As you get to state and national elections where much of the nation is pretty evenly divided, running as a third party all but ensures the Republican will win (even without winning a majority in most states, though a few use different systems). In essence, our system requires coalitions to be made before the election rather than after.
  You could compare it to UK elections. In 2024, Labour won 33% of the votes but won 411 of 650 seats because the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and regional parties split the rest.
  
  If Democrats wanted to, they could run a candidate against him.
  They actually couldn't really. Bernie wins the Democratic primary in his state then just runs as an Independent. He's the chosen representative of the Vermont Democratic Party.
- Money. They wouldn't be able to fundraise the money they need to get messages out to people. Then there's the depressingly large number of Americans who vote by party in a system meant for voting by individual. They would lose funding and then get smashed in the elections because nobody knew the party was even there.
  
  Thanks for the response. That's the thing - I feel like they're big enough personalities on their own to get elected. AOC did it initially on a shoestring is my understanding and she's well past the point of having voter recognition.
- A couple reasons.
  Bernie and the Democrats are going to align 90% of the time (just like with Manchin on the other end of the spectrum). Basically, the other party is anti-America. So being pro-America makes you a de facto Democrat.
  Since we don't have Ranked Choice Voting or any other system that is conducive to multiple parties, primaries allow directionally aligned candidates to decide who is most popular to avoid splitting the vote. This isn't necessary if a candidate has enough support for it to not matter. (Bernie is an independent in congress, but he ran as a Democrat in his presidential runs.)
- Because USA has never been a democracy in any meaningful sense.
- Yup. The DNC uses all their fight to keep progressives out, it's pathetic.
New party from scratch would be easier than turning this ugly ship around.
- [Narrator: "Indeed, it was not."]
The Dems don't just need "brawlers" but they also need people willing to get dirty. If you know pro wrestling, Eddie Guerrero at one time had a gimmick that included the slogan "I lie, I cheat, I steal" that is the mindset democratic operatives have to get into and party members have to at least accept, if they want any chance of beating the GOP.
The Dems don't seem to understand that there is no bottom for how low the GOP will go, and that means they are going to have to get dirty and do and say things that will haunt them, but it will be for the good of the entire country and if they truly care about democracy and this country they will fall on that sword and dive head first into that mud pit.
*Sorry for the run on's and ranting.... ADHD stream of consciousness.
- Personally, I think the problem the Democrats have is that they've become corrupt. Becoming more corrupt isn't going to help them.
  They rationalise taking bribes from corporations as "fund raising" and say that it's the only way to win elections. Well you know who wins elections without lobbying? Bernie and AOC. Both run through publicly funded campaigns., and this is why they can represent the needs of the people and not corporations and billionaires.
  
  All very true, it would probably take a lot of new blood coming in who would be willing to not only fight dirty but also rely on public small dollar donations.
  Reject the corporate bribery, build a true grass roots machine, and ultimately reject and actively fight against the current party leadership.
Elect me to the House or Congress and I will personally throw fists at any GOP aligned member around me.
- My SO and I have joked that while I could never win a local election, if I ran, I might just be able to get within punching range of our shitty representative.
  
  I'd toss in $20 for your campaign, and I don't even know where you live.
  Just try to livestream the smackdown, ok?
Fuck yeah!
Meanwhile, the party leadership is thinking "maybe bigger paddles next time?"
Uh oh! That's SURE to PISS OFF a couple Republicans who would NEVER vote for Democrats!
She's RIGHT! Which is why I'm GLAD the DNC is tapping Known Fighters JOE BIDEN and KAMALA HARRIS to come back!
I get a chuckle with how in the US, physical violence is used as a metaphor for nearly everything
Until they're willing to take off the gloves and directly and publicly attack corrupt Democrats, this is just noise. I'm done voting for Democrats. We need a new party.
- I interject reality into my wants. The reality is, and this cannot be understated, we must unite behind WHOEVER has a chance of beating the fascist oligarchy. Priorities people, priorities. Your statement, when enacted is partly how we arrived where we are now.
  Edit: Just to be clear. I absolutely agree with her and I also agree with you. I just will not make it a hard line. Putting our votes behind a losing ticket does not help in this situation since we may have already passed the point of no return in terms of our votes counting. If we don't unite now, I for one am convinced that will be our last chance, IF it even exists.
Been saying this for decades now and one of the myriad of reasons I don't donate or volunteer for Democrats in decades now.
Get actual brawlers. Let them punch the lights out of the competition.
this photo makes it look like there's a comic book effect emphasizing her pointing.
Where was this brawler when genocide joe was genociding?
- https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/media/press-releases/statement-rep-ocasio-cortez-violence-israel-and-palestine
  https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/24/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-aoc-israel-gaza-genocide-cnntv/index.html
  
  https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/07/politics/aoc-endorses-biden-2024/index.html

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