Rallying the Dems: How AOC Brings Life to the Party

[Celerity]

Hive editors observe how the 35-year-old congresswoman is “speaking in much clearer terms” about Donald Trump than the rest of her party, which still suffers from an “addiction to deference.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/rallying-the-dems-how-aoc-brings-life-to-the-party

https://archive.ph/sk69j


Tom Williams/Getty Images.

That was the opening question of this week’s episode of Inside the Hive, hosted by Vanity Fair editor in chief Radhika Jones alongside executive editor Claire Howorth and Hive editor Michael Calderone. But the group quickly turned its discussion to signs of life and positivity found on the left side of the political aisle: these “fight oligarchy” rallies where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have been packing arenas and electrifying crowds with a clear message of opposition to greed and corruption.

Ocasio-Cortez could be one of the key people to bring the Democratic Party to life. She, as VF contributing editor Michelle Ruiz notes, “has a way of emerging when she’s really needed” and “being really vocal when people are looking for a leader.” In 2019, Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman elected to Congress. Ruiz joined the episode to discuss the 2020 profile she wrote about the New York congresswoman and says the 35-year-old got on her radar during her first congressional campaign. “She was part of this groundswell of younger, more diverse people running in the 2018 election. I think very much an opposition to Donald Trump,” says Ruiz. She was a regular millennial woman, hustling all around New York campaigning, wearing sneakers. She had this authenticity that really showed in a viral campaign ad that, as Calderone notes, introduced her in a powerful and moving way but was also unclouded in its message: “How does our politics affect everyday people?”

The group relistened to the ad, and the prescience of the message is striking. “It was a long time ago in political terms and she hasn’t veered from that message,” says Howorth. “And the politics have come around to what she’s saying.” So it’s no wonder that these gatherings by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have had such strong reactions. We’re not in a political year, but this is a form of performance that in some way, as Jones remarks, is “kind of a page out of the Trump playbook.” Even after he was elected, in his first term Trump was doing rallies. But the MAGA crowd, Calderone reminds us, isn’t the only group looking for a leader to harness its frustration. These rallies are showing us that “people are coming together right now who are incredibly frustrated with Donald Trump and his and Elon Musk’s agenda.”

The Democratic Party is in the doldrums and seemingly needs a leader. Could Ocasio-Cortez be it? In a way, Jones notes, she “has been speaking in much clearer terms against the Trump administration than the actual Democratic leadership has.” The establishment’s biggest problem, according to Calderone, may just be its “addiction to deference”: In 2024, “there were a lot of people that could have run for president,” he adds. “They didn’t. They deferred to Joe Biden because he wanted to run.” But oftentimes, the people who are successful in national campaigns—say Barack Obama or Trump—are the ones who are not waiting for their turn. Ocasio-Cortez, with her social media prowess and ability to persevere in the face of right-wing mockery and violent threats, doesn’t seem like one for waiting either.

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[InAbLuEsTaTe]

1. AOC bringing life to the Democratic Party is an understatement... like Bernie she shows the leadership we sorely need!!

[usonian]

2. The rest of her party --- IS IN A COMA

Here is a message I got from Bernie in an email.

People attending rallies in huge numbers are saying
YES to raising the minimum wage,
YES to expanding Social Security,
YES to guaranteeing health care as a human right,
YES to cutting the cost of prescription drugs,
YES to paid family and medical leave,
YES to equal pay for equal work,
YES to more affordable housing,
YES to making childcare and higher education affordable to all,
YES to taking on the existential threat of climate change.

And most importantly they are saying
YES to a government and an economy that works for all of us and not just the billionaire class and the Oligarchs.
-----------------------------

HOW F---ING HARD IS IT TO POUND THESE FUNDAMENTAL POINTS EVERY DAY?
Hope is not a strategy
Neither is sticking your ...

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. Systems resist change

AOC represents change.

[malaise]

4. A genuine breath of fresh air from day one

Gooooo AOC!

[SocialDemocrat61]

5. Thanks for posting