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Paddy Taylor
Paddy Taylor
2 years ago

There’s a certain section of Democrats that seem endlessly keen to promote the idea of Ms Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the future of their party – but if they’re pinning their hopes on AOC they really need to aim a little higher.
I’d suggest to all those looking at AOC’s carefully crafted public persona, to try watching her being interviewed. It’s embarrassing. It’s cringeworthy to realise how little actual understanding is behind the rhetoric.
Much as you can only understand your own argument by hearing the case for the other side, you cannot accept that your candidate is credible if you’ve only seen them give scripted speeches and do chat shows. She has slogans and buzzwords aplenty, but when even the most softball questioning actually tries to get some depth about policy positions you quickly realise that there’s no “There” there. She is a smile and some eyebrows but no substance whatsoever and a frighteningly shallow appreciation of any of the issues facing the world.
For all that she might be well-meaning she is woefully out of her depth talking about ANY policy positions – on the economy, on security, on welfare, on foreign policy. She parrots talking-points and then, when she’s repeated all of them, she has nothing else. To read the fawning, uncritical press Ms Cortez seems to generate is to buy into the marketing of an idea that she cannot hope to live up to.
AOC represents everything that is wrong with the social-media generation’s approach to politics. Her tweeted photos of her weeping at the horrors of Trump’s border policies should have been enough to sink her career – when it transpired the pictures were taken miles from the border with AOC clinging on to the fencing surrounding a car park! https://www.rt.com/usa/462837-aoc-parking-lot-detention-center/ (well worth a look, just for how brazen and idiotic the photo stunt was). Just one of any number of occasions when she proved herself a fraud. The border issue, which caused her meltdown, has worsened considerably under Mr Biden, and thus the mental gymnastics required of AOC and her cohort to somehow excuse it has been embarrassing to watch. Her supposed “authenticity” is entirely performative.
As I say, watch her in an interview and see just how little she knows on any of the subject matters on which she opines. She sounds great with a script, gives wonderful, uplifting, hope-filled soundbites – but that is all she’s got – albeit delivered with the certainty of the zealot.
We all may want a credible Democratic candidate but, with the very best will in the world, AOC is absolutely not it.

Samir Iker
Samir Iker
2 years ago
Reply to  Paddy Taylor

“suggest to all those looking at AOC’s carefully crafted public persona, to try watching her being interviewed. It’s embarrassing”
Embarrassing didn’t stop them with Kamala Harris, won’t stop them with AOC

Gerald Koh
Gerald Koh
2 years ago

The jabs at Trump, I feel, are unwarranted to some extent as it’s not clear when looking at his record objectively that he was completely ineffective (think the pre COVID American economy, deregulation and Abraham accords for example). It is true, though, that a big part of his political life and ultimate legacy was just about pissing his opponents off by acting in the manner that he did, and driving up the level of collective derangement in that sense. But nonetheless, this is a eye-opening and intriguing angle to look at AOC’s legacy thus far, and I’m sure this article is so much more worthwhile readign through than the book it reviews.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
2 years ago
Reply to  Gerald Koh

I see very little similarity between Trump and AOC besides big Twitter profiles. I found it sloppy journalism.

Penny Adrian
Penny Adrian
2 years ago

She didn’t claim the similarity went much beyond that.

andrew joyner
andrew joyner
1 year ago

Their similarities are uncanny and their differences are superficial.
They are both populists is the main point I believe the author was making.

R Wright
R Wright
2 years ago

Wasn’t Trump blocked from carrying out his plans by others? This article’s jibes makes it sound like he never tried to implement any policies at all.

Alan Thorpe
Alan Thorpe
2 years ago
Reply to  R Wright

Unherd is getting to the point where it should be.

James Watson
James Watson
2 years ago
Reply to  Alan Thorpe

I agree completely. Cancelled my sub last week and just playing out the month. Not seeing anything to make me change my mind

Robert Kaye
Robert Kaye
2 years ago
Reply to  R Wright

The art of politics is getting things done. “I could have, but other people stopped me” is no excuse, it’s like a sailor complaining about the sea.

Penny Adrian
Penny Adrian
2 years ago

Having volunteered for decades in needy communities, I soon learned that anyone who was publicly celebrated as a “hero” was not to be trusted.
Celebrities are a self-selecting group, and those who aggressively seek attention for its own sake are trash (and probably stealing credit for the work done by other people).
AOC is the new “Social Media Influencer as Politician”.
I lost ALL respect for her when she came out against FOSTA, a position which borders on being sociopathic (who wants to prevent holding web sites accountable for profiting from the sale of raped kids on their site? AOC and “the squad” do).
Anyway, thank you for being honest about this fame hungry phony.
And I’m a Warren/Sanders Dem, NOT a Conservative.

Last edited 2 years ago by Penny Adrian
Emre Emre
Emre Emre
2 years ago

I agree with this article, it’s well spotted and described. I think this tweet from AOC is the one that best captures the situation described in this article though:
https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1477000469318885385
You couldn’t make it up:

If Republicans are mad they can’t date me they can just say that instead of projecting their sexual frustrations onto my boyfriend’s feet.

Last edited 2 years ago by Emre Emre
Devon
Devon
2 years ago

Wonderful piece! Really enjoyed it. I agree that AOC and Trump are two sides of the same coin.

Jem Barnett
Jem Barnett
1 year ago

I’m not sure the central thesis stands?

A good argument is made that AOC is popular for who she is rather than what’s done (as she hasn’t yet done very much, she’s still quite young on the ‘scene’).

Certainly Trump attracted and held attention for his outlandish personal style, but what propelled Trump wasn’t just style, it was that he was articulating policy ideas that a sufficiently large number of people supported …to allow him to perform a hostile takeover of the Republican party and crash his way through to the Presidency.

People weren’t voting for him for his style, in fact many people who voted for him don’t enjoy his petty tweeting etc and wish he’d tone things down, but they wanted the policies he was offering.
Is that not a crucial distinction? — yes, they both have huge personalities/profiles that the media go gaga for. But Trump was riding a massive wave of genuine anger at the political system, whereby even some people who didn’t like his persona would vote for him in order to get the change (policy) he was offering…

Is that true of AOC? …if it is I haven’t seen it. She seems to be feted for who she is, and by people who enjoy her persona. I don’t see her gaining support from people who dislike her persona, so I would posit that they’re quite different. Perhaps in fact the only thing that they share in common is a meme-worthy personal style?

Last edited 1 year ago by Jem Barnett
jonathan carter-meggs
jonathan carter-meggs
2 years ago

DOC has a ring to it!