So, here we are.
Yesterday’s article was really a primer for this one. So that when I tell you something you don’t want to hear, you’ll know that it’s not selling out or hero-worship or whatever. These are the facts as best as I can determine them.
Can we all agree that being wrong about something doesn’t necessarily make you a monster? I feel like this is a very simple fact we should all be able to accept.
AOC is not a sellout or a shill for the Democratic Party. She is not a careerist, and she’s not trying to endear herself to Nancy Pelosi. It’s time to leave that narrative behind because it has no basis in fact. Ian Danskin says that we should start with the truth and then move on to debunking the falsehood. So, I’ll open with my strongest argument. Exculpatory evidence.
AOC has been critical of the Democratic Party. Maybe not critical enough, but she’s definitely had some negative things to say. Here she is denouncing Biden’s infrastructure package as insufficient, a position that she repeated on a major, prime-time talk show. Here she is telling the Intercept that Nancy Pelosi needs to be removed as speaker. The video that got her in trouble is itself a denouncement of Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Too soft, in my opinion, but she very clearly calls out the Democrats. Twice. So, if AOC is trying to climb the ranks of the Democratic Party, then she’s going about it in the stupidest way possible.
But let’s move on to all the “evidence” against her.
“But AOC refused to force the vote on Medicare for All.” Three months ago, Jimmy Dore — brilliant strategist that he is — came up with a plan where the Squad would withhold their vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker unless they got a floor vote on Medicare for All. A floor vote that was never going to pass. The Squad refused to go along with this plan. So, that obviously means that they’re traitors, right? Well, no.
First of all, the accusation is incorrect. AOC and the Squad did leverage their votes for policy concessions. Just not the one that the Online Left wanted. AOC’s criticisms of Dore’s plan are, to my mind, right on the money. What’s the point of forcing a floor vote that can’t pass?
What about their refusal to fight harder for the $15 minimum wage? Leftist commentators like Krystal Ball and Briahna Joy Gray have said that the Squad should have voted down the Covid relief package. And that they should have held firm to their resistance until the $15 minimum wage was reinstated. The basic idea being that leftists have to play hardball the same way that conservatives do. If Manchin can tank the deal to get the minimum wage hike out, then the Squad can tank it again to put it back in.
I think this is a highly flawed analysis because Ball and Gray are assuming that Manchin and the other conservative Democrats will come back to the negotiating table once the Squad starts playing hardball. A far more likely scenario, in my opinion, is that the so-called moderates will say, “Fine, I guess you get nothing.” And then immediately launch a media campaign about how progressive extremism results in desperate people not getting the relief they need. And people will believe it because they’re desperate and primed to see socialists as the enemy. Also, let’s not forget the very real consequences for millions of people if that relief bill doesn’t pass.
This is usually where someone accuses me of talking like a centrist, but the difference is that a centrist would say, “I guess there’s nothing we can do,” and then just stop there. I say that we can force progressive policy — both in Canada and in the United States — through grassroots organizing.
On the issue of whether AOC has sold out to the Democratic Establishment, I’m sorry but the evidence just isn’t there.
“But she called Nancy Pelosi ‘Momma Bear.’” Please. I can’t believe I have to waste words on this nonsense. I befriended a guy from the Khive (Kamala Harris supporters, for those who don’t know the term), and he’s actually a very nice person. The Khivers are a bit odd. They call Harris “Madame Vice President” every time they refer to her. Not even speaking to her, but speaking about her in tweets that she will probably never see.
Recently, I’ve been involved in a campaign to release the IP for the Covid Vaccines. And I reached out to my Khive friend, thinking I might get a bigger audience. And so now, every time I talk to him, I refer to Kamala Harris as “MVP Harris” because that, to him, is an important gesture of respect for the first black woman to hold that office. And what do I care? What does it cost me to throw this guy a bone and take his concerns seriously? If it gets the message out there and results in a policy change that saves lives, why wouldn’t I?
That’s all AOC was doing. If calling Pelosi “Momma Bear” gets the three centrist ladies and their audience to listen when she talks about Medicare for All, then why wouldn’t AOC throw them a bone? You see, unlike most of the Online Left, AOC is willing to swallow her pride for the greater good.
So, why did I call her out yesterday? Well, because I do think she’s too soft on the Democrats, and that her discussion on the migrant detention centres is the first time that she gave the Dems a pass in an egregious way. I’ve been accused of defending AOC no matter what she does. So, I wanted to demonstrate, that no, I am not just a stan. And no, she is not perfect.
[Addendum: after publishing this article, I discovered that the clip in which AOC appears to gloss over crimes by the Biden Administration is actually heavily edited. Her comparison of Trump and Biden’s border policies is a one-minute clip from thirteen minute video in which she analyzes the current administration’s policies and the root causes of this humanitarian crisis. As such, my criticism was invalid.]
But I never thought the damn thing would go viral! Not even when I apologized to Ryan Knight. Usually, when the big accounts retweet me, I get twelve likes and then everyone moves on to the next hot take. I should have realized the First Law of Twitter. Only the worst things go viral.
Now, I’m partly responsible for the tidal wave of vitriol that AOC has received. Which was never my intention. So, AOC, on the off chance you’re reading this, I’m sorry.
AOC is not a sellout. The Left needs to let go of that narrative. It’s not based in fact, and it’s fundamentally unjust.
