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The unsung hero of Trump’s fraud case: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (www.salon.com)

submitted 1 year ago by ooli@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Authoritarians like Trump gain power by exploiting public cynicism. The more that voters believe that all politicians cheat the system, the more decent citizens will give up engaging meaningfully in politics at all. Eventually, the only people left in politics are the ones with no vision of a better world beyond a bitter desire to stick it to racial minorities, LGBTQ people and women. Getting people to believe in equal justice and functional government is a necessary prerequisite if folks like Fetterman and Ocasio-Cortez are to make any progress on the social and economic issues that matter most to them.

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[-] JoBo@feddit.uk 13 points 1 year ago

Mebbe read the article before commenting? It anticipates, and answers, your idle cynicism.

In our era of 24/7 media onslaught, four years can seem like like four lifetimes, so it's easy to forget that when Ocasio-Cortez arrived in Congress in January 2019, there was a lot of curiosity and outright skepticism about her among the Beltway press. She'd gotten there in improbable fashion, winning a 2018 primary against Rep. Joe Crowley — a power broker in Queens who chaired the House Democratic caucus and was seen as a possible successor to Nancy Pelosi. Before that, Ocasio-Cortez had been working as a bartender in a Manhattan taco joint. So the media was watching eagerly to see whether she'd rise to the occasion or fall flat on her face.

Ocasio-Cortez's first big test came in February 2019, when Trump's former personal attorney and "fixer," Michael Cohen, testified before the House Oversight Committee. Cohen was about to go to prison for a campaign finance crime committed at Trump's behest, and told a genuinely moving story of crime and betrayal. But most of the Democrats on the committee whiffed this opportunity to ask questions of a guy who had been nestled within the Trump gang for years. Instead, they devoted their time to grandstanding for the cameras, rather than learning any new information about Trump's illegal dealings.

Except, of course, for the young congresswoman from a working-class, multiracial district in Queens and the Bronx.

[-] jayemar@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Wow, definitely forgot that she's only been in office for 4 years.

[-] Zorque@kbin.social -2 points 1 year ago

Does it? Or does it just try and paint her that way?

I'm not saying she's not getting down and doing work, unlike a lot of reps sitting in the big chairs... but she's hardly doing it as some sort of hidden figure. She's doing it very publicly, which is part of her strategy. If she was truly unsung, she would be failing in what she's attempting to do. So saying that she's "unsung" is basically saying she's failing to do what she's trying to.

this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023

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