The hype around Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has reached laughable levels in recent weeks, with many media outlets touting her as a “top 2028 contender.”
That’s not to say that Ocasio-Cortez couldn’t win the Democratic nomination. This isn’t exactly the ’98 Yankees lineup we’re talking about in terms of talent on the Blue Team bench, especially when considering former Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign blew through $1.5 billion only to lose the popular vote and every swing state to President Doanld Trump, is polling as the most likely candidate to capture the nomination once again.
Others being considered for the nomination are former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who once took two months off for paternity leave during a supply chain crisis without informing anyone; Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the former vice presidential candidate who once claimed to fight in war zones when he instead ditched his unit upon learning it was being deployed to Iraq; Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who presides over a state with the highest taxes in the country, the highest homeless rate in the country, and the third-highest unemployment rate in the country; Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who flamed out in the 2020 presidential race before even getting to Iowa; and the aforementioned Ocasio-Cortez, who once predicted in 2019 that “the world will end” in 2031 due to climate change.
Ocasio-Cortez has been on a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that includes states Trump won in 2024, including Nebraska, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada. The rallies have drawn big crowds and have allowed Ocasio-Cortez to raise $9.6 million in the span of three months, a record high for her.
“Election guru” Nate Silver, who is somehow valued for his predictions despite predicting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would crush Trump in a landslide and that Harris would defeat Trump, said he believes Ocasio-Cortez will be the Democrats’ 2028 nominee because she’s a “canny politician” and “charismatic.”
Others have pointed to her prowess on social media and ability to attract likes and retweets as reasons they’re bullish on her chances.
“I am telling you … she is running and she is going to be more formidable than some Democrats seem to think,” former CNNer Chris Cillizza wrote on X.
But outside of the sizzle (social media engagement, being young and energetic), can anyone explain how someone with such radical positions is going to win a general election?
Those positions include:
1. She wants open borders and voted against the Laken Riley Act.
2. She wants to raise taxes.
3. She wants to end all fossil fuels, fracking, and offshore drilling while spending trillions on the Green New Deal. She has yet to share where those trillions come from but has mentioned cutting defense spending to foot part of the bill.
4. She opposed funding the Iron Dome, which has saved countless Israeli lives from missile attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah.
5. She supports men playing against women in sports and recently voted against a measure to protect women here.
We have no idea what her position is on trade, especially regarding China.
She supports indefinite funding of the Russia-Ukraine war.
And she was silent after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel by Hamas that left more than 1,200 dead, but she has called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal.”
Legacy media, of course, ignore all of this when assessing her chances to become the 48th president. Instead, we often hear about crowd sizes when they were once dismissed during the Trump campaign as meaningless.
Check out this New York Times headline: “Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez Electrify Democrats Who Want to Fight Trump.”
Subheadline: “Bernie Sanders and his apparent heir, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have drawn enormous crowds on their ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour, energizing a beaten-down Democratic Party.”
“Electrify.”
“Energizing.”
Funny how the New York Times fails to use those words for Trump rallies, such as the one he held at Madison Square Garden in October 2024.
Headline: “Trump at the Garden: A Closing Carnival of Grievances, Misogyny and Racism.”
Subheadline: “The inflammatory rally was a capstone for an increasingly aggrieved campaign for Donald Trump, whose rhetoric has grown darker and more menacing.”
Any questions?
“No matter who you voted for in the past, no matter if you know all the right words to say, no matter your race, religion, gender identity, or status,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a rally at Arizona State University. “No matter even if you disagree with me on a few things. If you are willing to fight for someone you don’t know, you are welcome here.”
“If you are willing to fight for someone you don’t know, you are welcome here.”
What does that even mean?
And don’t bother asking about policy positions at these rallies. It’s mostly pie-in-the-sky platitudes out of the Kamala Harris speechwriter playbook, mixed with a heavy dose of “Trump and Elon Musk are fascists who must be stopped.” But how will Ocasio-Cortez appeal to the Teamsters union, United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers (while still supporting EV mandates and bashing Tesla), the farming community, and restaurant service workers?
Rhetorical question. She won’t resonate with these crucial voting blocs for the Democratic Party. And despite being Latina, she doesn’t appeal to a majority of legal citizens from this massive voting bloc, either, because she supports coddling illegal immigrants over the very citizens she’s supposed to protect.
Then we have Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), who is making the insane argument that Democrats like Ocasio-Cortez have the right message but that the media are biased for Trump and against his party, making it an unfair fight. And he said it with a straight face on MSNBC.
“I think the message coming from the Democratic Party is a good message,” Clyburn argued. “The problem we’ve got, I’ll say, is that we have to depend upon the media to deliver it.”
“If we have the Washington Post, for instance, caving to this wannabe dictator, and we’ve got other media entities that seem to rather push a narrative that will bring eyes to their newspapers or to their television sets and not really give a fair hearing or reporting to what we’re doing,” he added.
You know the world is upside down when a Republican president has co-opted rank-and-file union members and Democrats are complaining about being treated unfairly by the press.
“Donald Trump is a criminal — convicted on 34 felony counts of fraud,” Ocasio-Cortez declared at another rally in Los Angeles, again using a tired line only hardcore liberals cheer. “At his best, he enriches himself, the billionaires who back him, and the members of Congress who trade with him. Not you. Not me. Not the people.”
In a related story, Ocasio-Cortez has flown five times on private jets to these rallies, which not only help destroy the environment but are out of reach financially for 99% of the country. But here she is, railing against the rich while enjoying the luxuries billionaires enjoy, all in the name of saving a planet that she says will cease to exist in five or six years.
If the Democratic Party wants to run a 35-year-old congresswoman with no legislation to her name to speak of as a serious presidential contender, the GOP should donate to that cause.
DEMOCRATS DON’T WANT KAMALA HARRIS
Mark it down: She’ll win (maybe) seven states: Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Delaware.
All the likes and viral videos on TikTok and X aren’t going to change the reality that Ocasio-Cortez can energize the far Left, but when it comes to those left of center, center, and right, they’re simply never going to vote for a candidate who is taking the extreme positions she’s taken.
