WASHINGTON – At a time of existential turbulence for the president Joe BidenCongressperson. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezDN.Y., has become a staunch ally of the embattled current president, using her platform to speak out against the flood of Democratic voices who is it asking you to leave of the 2024 presidential race.
As former president donald trump was wrapping up her lengthy speech accepting the Republican Party’s presidential nomination on Thursday, AOC — as she is widely known — took to Instagram Live to speak directly to thousands of followers to make the case against Biden dropping out.
She questioned the feasibility of replacing Biden at the top of the ticket at this late stage, warning that some Republicans would legally challenge it and said it could lead to “a presidential election being decided by Clarence Thomas and the Supreme Court,” like in 2000.
Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly emphasized that she respected the opinions of ordinary voters who want to see a change in the ticket and said she was not guaranteeing that Biden would win if he remained in the race. But she warned that things could get more chaotic for Democrats if Biden make the extraordinary move to end your campaign just weeks before the Democratic convention.
“If you are 10,000% super convinced that the candidate, or president, cannot beat Donald Trump, then do what you think is in your right mind. But I haven’t seen an alternative scenario that I don’t think puts us in enormous danger,” she said.
In a turnaround for the left-leaning Ocasio-Cortez, her comments place her among the most vocal pro-Biden voices in the party right now. Although more than 10% of Democrats in Congress have called for Biden to withdraw from the race, few have spoken out to criticize these voices and affirmatively defend his stay, with the party leadership saying they will support any decision he makes.
While supporting the president, Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent progressives have in recent days persuaded Biden to embrace several of his priorities in a potential second term — including expanding Social Security, capping rent increases, eliminating medical debt for credit reports and imposing term limits on the Supreme Court.
Many progressives, including Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are driven primarily by political goals and know they have Biden’s ear. If he steps down, it’s unclear who would replace him and how that relationship would change.
But others fear a Trump presidency if this ticket holds, and there is no clear consensus on whether Vice President Kamala Harris would be a better or worse prospect, electorally or in government.
“Right now, people are in an existential crisis, in emergency mode,” said a progressive climate strategist within the movement. “S— is hitting the fan. … There’s this chaos angle on the other side of: If there’s a change to the ticket, what happens?”
The strategist said part of the reason progressives like Ocasio-Cortez support Biden is the “bird in the hand phenomenon” — there is a “comfort level” with Biden in the White House.
Ocasio-Cortez’s view is not shared by the entire Congressional Progressive Caucus. The day after his live broadcast, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., former CPC co-chair, called for Biden to withdraw.
“We must face the reality that widespread public concerns about his age and fitness are putting what should be a winning campaign at risk,” Pocan said in a joint message to Biden with three other House Democrats. “These perceptions may not be fair, but they have hardened following last month’s debate and are now unlikely to change. We believe the most responsible and patriotic thing you can do at this time is to stop being our candidate and continue to lead our party in the White House.”
During her Instagram Live, Ocasio-Cortez said that much of the effort to knock Biden out of the race after his poor debate performance comes from the “donor class” and “elites” who would not allow “an easy transition” for Harris to become the nominee, although she had no opinion on Harris — or any other alternative.
“If you think there is a consensus among people who want Joe Biden gone that they will support Kamala — Vice President Harris — you are mistaken,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I’m in these rooms. I see what they say in conversations. Many of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in withdrawing all the ticket.”
She said the effort is being fueled by wealthy donors: “When I talk to people in the rooms, I hear, ‘My donor this, my donor that.’ These are the contributions I hear reflected by my colleagues. It’s not, ‘My constituents, this…’, it’s like, ‘Big donors are saying this.’”
“I don’t care what a bunch of rich people think,” she added.
The progressive strategist also said that Ocasio-Cortez, by accusing donors and elites of wanting to reject the entire ticket, may be “preventing” the inevitable questions if Biden resigns over whether the nomination should go to Harris or whether there should be a open primary.
His office had no further comment beyond his extensive comments to followers on the platform. Biden, for her part, has said repeatedly and emphatically that she will not give up. He said he will return to the campaign next week, after isolating himself with a Covid diagnosis.
Lisa Lint-Vander Zouwen, a 46-year-old Grand Rapids resident and mother of two school-aged daughters, calls herself a “reluctant” Biden supporter. She said she would like to see him step aside and be replaced by a “strong woman” – but not without competition.
“It would be nice if three were some kind of process,” she said. “I don’t know what it would look like, but some Democrats will get together to discuss who they think would be a strong candidate and why, and not necessarily go for Vice President Harris.”
Ocasio-Cortez also warned followers that Biden has unique electoral strengths that other Democrats cannot hope to replicate.
“Joe Biden kind of electorally runs roughshod over seniors, which is one of the strongest and most consistent constituencies, and it’s actually a difficult constituency for Democrats to win. These are not people who are on Twitter,” she said. “You cannot assume that the electorate will be transferred to any other candidate.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
