A new article in New York Magazine says that AOC, who came to power by upsetting a Democratic incumbent, now resembles just another Democrat.
AOC: Now Just Another Democrat
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), or AOC, first burst on the scene in 2018, when she upset Rep. Joseph Crowley, a veteran of the House and member of the House Democratic leadership. The youngest member of Congress at the time, and an avowed member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Congresswoman known as AOC was something new in politics, bringing a social media savvy to everywhere from the floor of Congress to the pages of fashion magazines.
But now, about five years into her career as an elected official, it’s being argued that Ocasio-Cortez is “Just a Regular Old Democrat Now.”
That’s the headline of a piece in New York magazine, by journalist Freddie deBoer. DeBoer, the author of a popular Substack newsletter, generally holds leftist politics but is sometimes critical of other leftists.
The peg is Ocasio-Cortez’s recent endorsement of President Biden for re-election in 2024, which came during an appearance on the Pod Save America podcast, an organ for the establishment wing of the Democratic Party, hosted by a trio of former Obama staffers. Ocasio-Cortez not only put to rest any hopes that she would run for president herself, but that she might back some Biden challengers from the left, which was the role Bernie Sanders occupied in the last two presidential elections.
“I think he’s done quite well, given the limitations that we have,” AOC said of Biden, in the Pod Save America experience.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent appearance on the Pod Save America podcast had, for me, the feeling of a final disappointment, the kind that’s a little sad but brings a set of quixotic hopes to a close,” deBoer writes.
“To deliver that particular endorsement while appearing on that particular podcast — where former Obama administration staffers define the limits of acceptable left-of-center opinion — was to send a very deliberate message. It was AOC’s last kiss-off to the radicals who had supported her, voted for her, donated to her campaign, and made her unusually famous in American politics, the beneficiary of a wholly unique cult of personality that is now starting to come undone.”
The author called this the culmination of “a half-decade long drift from radical outsider to establishment liberal.” He went to draw a contrast between a photo of the soon-to-be-Congresswoman, “weeping outside of an immigration camp in Texas,” in 2018 as she protested the Trump immigration policies, and of AOC’s appearance at the Met Gala in 2021, in a “Tax the Rich” dress. The later appearance left her as the subject of an ethics investigation.
DeBoer goes on to reach conclusions about what the Bernie Sanders/Squad era actually accomplished.
“Well, I think the jury has come back in: the increased visibility of a few socialist politicians has not made far-left Democratic power any more achievable or scalable. The radical wing of the party can still fit our representation in Congress in a three-row SUV. And perhaps we’ve waited long enough to recognize that there’s no reason to expect better in the near future,” he writes. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was once a symbol of what American politics might become. Now she’s a message to the rest of us: it’s going to take more than symbols.”
There has been quite a bit of pushback to the piece.
“This article conveniently ignores that @AOC has endorsed more primary challengers to incumbent, corporate friendly Democrats than any federal elected official — which is one of the hardest things to do as an incumbent,” Democratic strategist Waleed Shahid said on Twitter.
“I’m struck by how much Freddie DeBoer’s criticisms of AOC and her supporters’ defense of her mirrors Trump-resistant Conservatives’ criticisms of Trump and his OnlyTrump defenders,” a Twitter user known as “George MF Washington” said of the piece.
AOC on MSNBC. Image Credit: MSNBC Screenshot.
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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