New York (01/08 – 41.67) The knives are out on the woke left this week as one of its most prominent divas is catching shade from a bold new up and comer.
The delicious drama pits Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against state Sen. Jessica Ramos. The sniping began when a medical student took to Twitter to condemn members of AOC’s staff who skipped a meeting with prominent medical academics with a dismissive, “we’re not doing healthcare right now.” AOC dutifully apologized, saying that the missed meeting did not represent her or her values.
“Maybe if you spent more time in your office and with your team you’d know what goes on. Just saying it would be nice if you breathed our air,” Ramos jabbed. “Our district offices are on the same floor in the same building. She’s barely ever present in the community. It’s an indisputable fact.”
This wasn’t a gentle gibe meant to correct AOC’s course — it was a political body slam. And an impressive display of the very Twitter snark Ocasio-Cortez is known for. But as shocking as the insults were, they didn’t exactly come out of the blue. Back in April, AOC was shunned by organizers who unionized an Amazon distribution center on Staten Island. They claimed the champion of labor and socialism had “left them high and dry” during their fight. This just a couple of years after the progressive Queen of Queens was key to killing a deal with that same Amazon that would have brought thousands of jobs to her district.
So her staff won’t meet with health-care experts, she won’t meet with union organizers, she kills jobs in her community, and, according to Ramos, who wasn’t quite done castigating her victim, AOC won’t even sit down with local leaders and politicians. This has to leave her constituents and all New Yorkers asking of Ocasio-Cortez: What exactly would you say you do around here?
The answer: Nothing. AOC, you see, is a figure of national prominence, an avatar of a far left. She can’t be bothered with the minutiae of everyday lives and practical policies, she has a brand to build, galas to attend, invisible handcuffs to pretend to be locked in. Or as the aspiring doctor who kicked off the kerfuffle put it, “So while she’s doing performative resistance art for the cameras she’s not doing healthcare right now.”
We should forgive conservatives and maybe even some moderate Democrats who may be enjoying a super-sized portion of schadenfreude over this progressive infighting. After all, we’ve been pointing out that AOC is all performance art for sometime — it’s heartening to see the progressives are catching on.
