Ultra-far-left Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did a 180 recently when she decided to endorse President Joe Biden for election in 2024.
That flip-flop from her previous stance upset many progressives who seemingly view her as the figurehead of their movement.
While appearing on the “Pod Save America” podcast over the weekend, AOC was asked whether she had decided to support Biden or one of his challengers in the upcoming Democratic primary election. The two major challengers Biden will be facing are Robert Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson.
AOC surprised many when she said of Biden:
“I think he’s done quite well given the limitations that we have.”
Then, she added that “given that field” of Democratic candidates, she would be supporting Biden for re-election. She continued:
“I do think that there are ebbs and flows, as there are in any presidency. There are areas that I think were quite strong when [Biden] came right out of the gate with the American Rescue Plan, and, of course, the Inflation Reduction Act was a massive step in terms of our climate agenda.”
She did acknowledge that there were some areas that “I think could have gone better” during the Biden administration. But, then she took aim at her own party when she said many of the problems this White House has faced are due to the “major structural issues [that] start with the United States Senate.”
Before these statements, AOC has been a diehard supporter of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who’s often seen as the “king” of the progressive/socialist movement within the Democratic Party. Many ultra-liberals took to Twitter to voice their displeasure with AOC’s abandonment of Sanders for a Democratic establishment candidate.
Briahna Joy Gray, who once served as the press secretary for Sanders’ presidential campaign, wrote that AOC “endorsing Joe Biden now is a betrayal of progressive interests.”
Gray wrote:
“It was true for Bernie Sanders’ endorsement & its true of AOC. *Most* Democrats don’t want Biden to run. Bernie and AOC are tragically out of step w/ the movement & the moment.
“AOC once said in a normal country, she and Biden wouldn’t be in the same party. Maybe that was once true. Not anymore.”
Gray also added that progressive lawmakers, at the least “should be asking for commitments in exchange for their endorsement. Even better, they should be using the Marianne/RFK campaigns to highlight the failures of Biden & the Dems on Ukraine, healthcare & more.”
Many other Twitter users agreed with what Gray said, pointing out that many of the “Squad” members, including AOC, are much more concentrated on their political careers than they are on actually sticking to their beliefs.
Some even questioned whether AOC got a “very juicy payoff” by endorsing Biden. After all, he certainly could use the backing of the progressive wing of his own party if he wants to take down likely GOP candidate Donald Trump once again.
Other Democrats, though, said that AOC basically had no choice but to support Biden, as the incumbent president. Supporting any other Democratic candidate, they opined, is basically like supporting Trump.
