MSNBC Gave AOC Another Softball Interview – Since leaving politics and joining MSNBC, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki has quickly become one of the biggest names in progressive news.
As a Biden White House alumnus, Psaki’s name carries weight among Dem-leaning viewers – and a recent interview with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, was an opportunity to present the New York progressive’s ideas in perhaps a more mainstream light.
In an interview with Psaki on Sunday, July 9, AOC lashed out at popular Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – the man with arguably the best shot at beating former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – and answered what critics say were consecutive softball questions.
Without once tackling the progressive legislator’s extreme views on immigration and her advocacy of “gender affirming care” for children, Psaki offered Ocasio-Cortez a chance to set straight things that people get wrong about her.
Here’s What She Asked AOC
Walking along a river and having a friendly chat with the controversial New York representative, Psaki asked, “What do people get wrong about you? Or not know about you?”
“When I meet with colleagues or individuals that I have not met with before, they are surprised that I do my homework a lot,” Ocasio-Cortez responded with a laugh.
Psaki, responding with a chuckle, watched with endearment as Ocasio-Cortez added that she believed when she had her first hearing with Michael Cohen, “people were surprised that I tried to add substantive questions.”
While it wasn’t the first time that Psaki had given the Democratic Party’s most radical elected official an opportunity to soften her extreme views for a broader, more moderate audience, the clip quickly captured the attention of Republicans who noticed that the interview was more of a campaign ad than a news report.
RNC Research, an official Twitter account run by the Republican National Committee, shared the clip with its audience of almost half a million followers.
Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier also blasted the interview as “pathetic.”
“That answer, when she was asked walking along the river, you know what is something… powerful that people just don’t know about you and the only thing that she could come up with is that ‘I do my homework.’ That says ‘I am mediocre at best and I will do the minimum possible,’” Saphier said during an appearance on The Big Weekend Show.
“‘I’m going to show up for congressional hearings, and I’ll have read the pamphlet that someone put together for me.’ That’s what that says.”
In April, 2023, Psaki gave AOC a similarly sympathetic interview during which she discussed her extreme Green New Deal policy, her radical views on abortion that are wildly out of step with the views of most Americans, and climate change.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
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