Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has issued a dire warning to her party about the chaos that could ensue if they succeed in pushing President Joe Biden off the ticket. And she criticized Democrats who’ve given off-the-record quotes that suggest the party has resigned itself to a second Trump term.
In an Instagram Live video on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez warned liberals that a brokered convention could lead to chaos, in part because she says some of the Democratic “elites” who want Biden out also don’t want Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee in his place.
“If you think that is going to be an easy transition, I’m here to tell you that a huge amount of the donor class and these elites who are pushing for the president not to be the nominee also do not want to see the VP be the nominee,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez claimed none of the people she’s spoken with who are calling on Biden to drop out — including lawmakers and legal experts — have articulated a plan to swap out the nominee without minimizing the serious legal and procedural challenges that are likely to ensue.
Ocasio-Cortez also highlighted the racial, ethnic and class divisions that appear to have formed between the majority of those pining to blow up the ticket — led mostly by white Democrats and media pundits — and those elected officials who feel they and their constituents have too much at stake to upend the process at this point and so are willing to do the work to re-elect Biden-Harris. She alluded to this cultural divide in her video when she spoke out against anonymous sources expressing a sense of fatalism on behalf of Democrats about what might happen if Biden remains on the ticket:
What I will say is what upsets me is [Democrats] saying we will lose. For me, to a certain extent, I don’t care what name is on there. We are not losing. I don’t know about you, but my community does not have the option to lose. My community does not have the luxury of accepting loss in July of an election year. My people are the first ones deported. They’re the first ones put in Rikers. They’re the first ones whose families are killed by war.
I trust AOCs judgement, although it might just be both options are equal as long as the party can commit to one. The worst possible outcome is non-commitment, as it’s the worst of both worlds.
Stick with Biden, you rally 100% with a flawed candidate and highlight all the good he’s done with a flawed Congress (a majority in name only on progressive issues). Can win if you don’t repeat 2016 mistakes, which at this point I don’t think we’ll be taking the rust belt for granted.
Abandon Biden 100%, you quickly side with an obvious choice and build a campaign. Time isn’t on your side but you aren’t dealing with a much baggage. Can win if the big tent party can agree on things and rally behind the choice even if it’s not their first choice. Kamala is boring but probably would be the pick with least resistance.
The problem is neither is happening, so you get Biden with sub-100% support and buying into the age narrative rather than pivoting to his strengths, which is very much a losing strategy. Those resigned to losing probably know this is our trajectory unless something big happens (e.g. Biden sheds the age narrative somehow or drops out leading to a clear successor.)
My hope? We get a 2016 surprise in our favor: polls say Trump wins 99% odds yet Biden pulls off an upset. Wouldn’t that be sweet irony…
The Trumpanzees are going to screech about the election being rigged regardless what happens, I’d rather not give them any extra ammo for people to take them seriously about it. I’d like to see Trump absolutely blown the fuck out with votes, I want a 98-2% split in favor of Biden. The only votes I want going toward Trump are Guilty votes from his jury.
Yeah, I’d love a blowout but we know that’s not going to happen. Let them whine, if they want to take up arms I just want to be on the side that still gets to control the drones.
if dems, indies, and the few remaining “sane republicans”. go out and vote, you will see a landslide. binden is not inspiring a groundswell. if the groundswell comes it will be due only to public terror. I would rather get a vote_based_on_terror + passing_of_the_torch_to_our_young_victims_cuz_we_sure_fucked_up vibe from the US population at large
Fuck that. They’ve already proven that they will scream rigged regardless of the outcome.
It’ll be 98-2 in popular vote, but it’ll be 49-51 in electoral college.
Americans have a 2 week memory. There is plenty of time to replace Biden.
That situation won’t happen as Trump would sue and the Supreme Court would agree there is fraud with no evidence to back it up.
I think that’ll more likely be Congress, unless it’s as close as 2000 was. A margin like 2016 would be harder to override through courts, but if GOP gets both chambers I can see them just overriding the vote somehow, January 6 style.