Summary

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denied claims that she is secretly wealthy, stating she is worth less than $500,000 and doesn’t trade stocks or take corporate money.

Her financial disclosures show modest savings and student debt.

Some conservatives on X, despite opposing her politics, praised her perceived integrity.

Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.

  • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    23 minutes ago

    I love AOC. I’d vote for her in a heartbeat in primary and general elections. Now, whether she makes it to the general depends on the DNC, and I have no faith that the political consultant/establishment class will let anything remotely progressive through. No money to be made.

    I guess the only way forward would be to vote for her in the primaries to such a degree that the Dems have not choice but to confirm her through.

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Ladies and gentlemen, this is the internet manifest:

    1- blame her for having millions due to kickbacks

    2- when she proves that her net worth is less than 500K make fun of her for having too little money

    • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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      2 hours ago

      I mean if you take the internet as a monolith, you’ll find contradictions every where. Some people will hate A because of B, some people will hate A because of C, but either way A is getting hate for both B and C.

      So either there are millions of people online with different opinions but the crowd looks the same, or there is one very, very busy troll who is running all the accounts.

      ~help I’m so tired they won’t give me a break to pee~

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      There’s many things that expose the Right Wing Grift.

      When AOC was first elected they mocked her for being a Bartender who “rose above her station”

      What more proof do you need that the American Dream is bullshit

  • Xanza@lemm.ee
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    7 hours ago

    Median property value in DC is $705,000.

    She’s likely living paycheck to paycheck as a sitting member of Congress. I like it.

  • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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    2 hours ago

    Fascinating how we’ve reached the point where “I’m not corrupt” is somehow praiseworthy. The bar is so low it’s practically a tripping hazard.

    Sure, let’s applaud someone for doing the bare minimum of not being blatantly corrupt. Meanwhile, the real wealth transfer happens through perfectly legal channels while we debate someone’s bank balance.

    Pro tip: If you’re impressed by a politician not being wealthy, you might want to recalibrate your standards for public servants. But hey, at least she’s not day-trading classified information, right? slow clap

    • Saryn@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      AOC is doing the bare minimum?

      Care to enlighten everyone what you’ve been doing these last few years? Must be something really special and meaningful.

      • meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works
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        1 hour ago

        Oh, the classic “what have you done?” deflection. Cute. Here’s the thing: I’m not an elected official claiming moral superiority. AOC’s job is to lead, not just clear the lowest ethical bar. Maybe demand more from your heroes instead of settling for mediocrity.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      AOC is a prodigious fundraiser with a significant national following. She might only have a half-million in the bank, but her name and her reputation are worth orders of magnitude more.

      Conservatives have a hard time believing someone like that isn’t getting rich quick on $AOCCoin or LeftyBear merch offerings.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Conservatives have a hard time believing someone like that isn’t getting rich quick on $AOCCoin or LeftyBear merch offerings.

        Being dishonest you have a bigger selection of instruments to gain power. So politicians are more likely to be dishonest than the average person. And then a dishonest person would use the opportunity.

        Anyway, cool for AOC to be honest, but unfortunately her views (specifically support of MMT) are a certain way to nuke the economy of the USA.

        If we detach ourselves from the emotional part (suicides, hunger deaths), it may even be liberating, if USD as a currency takes a 10000x inflation in a year or so, while big businesses reliant on American system of connections grown by decades of stability die. US main capital is still human capital, competent people and their knowledge. No hyperinflation will kill that, if recovery is quick enough.

        Except that’s not the way people like AOC promise.

        • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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          3 hours ago

          Anyway, cool for AOC to be honest, but unfortunately her views (specifically support of MMT) are a certain way to nuke the economy of the USA.

          I didn’t realize it was that part of the circus where conservative centrists clowns do a bit for us to laugh at them for.

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            Neither did I, turns out that yes and you are the clown. Why - because you’ve used a long comment for the sole purpose of “friend-or-foe” determination. I dunno how to call people doing that. If all this was incomprehensible for you - I’m not a conservative.

            • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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              2 hours ago

              Im not the clown wasting their breath attacking one of the only politicians who is actually resisting the fascist takeover and destruction of the US government literally happening as you rant emptily about “inveitable” eventualities of AOC’s policies.

              You could not pick a better moment to demonstrate how fundamentally unserious your politics are in this context.

              Wake the fuck up and realize who your actual enemies are, you dangerous fool.

              • Saryn@lemmy.world
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                1 hour ago

                It feels like all the people here criticizing her for fantastical or illogical reasons (usually a mixture of both) are just envious of her.

                • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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                  58 minutes ago

                  They would all also get hilariously demolished by her on a debate about policy and political strategy.

                  …which honestly it never gets old for me watching progressive leaders like her dress down people like this to their face.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Anyway, cool for AOC to be honest, but unfortunately her views (specifically support of MMT) are a certain way to nuke the economy of the USA.

          The US economy gets nuked every 8-12 years thanks to private equity and boom-bust capital trends. MMT just moves the ball out of the hands of a cartel of hedge funds and into the hands of the US Treasury. I’ll happily agree that its not sufficient to solving the problem of malinvestment and industrial waste. But that’s precisely because its an extension of Keynesian-cum-Friedmanite monetary theory of economics. At some point, you have to take account of real assets, not just float around fictitious capital.

          if USD as a currency takes a 10000x inflation in a year

          You don’t get inflation like that under Eisenhower/Carter era tax laws. MMT, in practice, is still predicated on some degree of currency recapture. You’re just replacing credit elasticity through private lenders with spending elasticity through public spenders. “Here’s a $500k loan, build a house and pay me back at 6% APY” isn’t meaningfully different than “Here’s a $500k grant, built a house and your builders are going to pay me back 6% VAT”.

          Except that’s not the way people like AOC promise.

          AOC promises a large public investment in value-adding infrastructure. She’s just proposing direct payment rather than tax-incentivized private investment.

          • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            She’s just proposing direct payment actually investing in Americans rather than tax-incentivized private investment taking bribes to give all the public coffers to corpo goons.

            ftfy

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            The US economy gets nuked every 8-12 years

            Reminds me of that Hashek quote about “sir, you’ve taken the pollen of my innocence” from a girl whose shoulder a boy touched.

            Anyway, maybe you’re right.

  • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    They’re so concerned about profittering they support a guy that was giving millions directly from China, took millions in goverment funds by making secret service stay in his hotels and charging them 1000x the rate of any other guest. This guy’s will pay their life down for the biggest kleptocrat in US history, but yeah AOC needs to be monitored.

    • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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      9 hours ago

      Well obviously you do. Or she isnt trying to help people. She admitted to having hundreds of thousands of dollars

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        48 minutes ago

        Honestly this is comedy gold,

        The politician you are most interested in talking about in this moment, right now with this future quickly unfolding, with respect to scamming the american people… is AOC???

        ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha I hope I choke on my popcorn while laughing bitterly so I don’t have to live through the stupidest possible future for my country

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Where are you from that you think hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US is “wealth”?

        Do you know that 500k in the US doesn’t even get you a nice house? You need literally around 2 mil saved up JUST TO RETIRE BEFORE 70.

        She is helping people in that she serves her constituency, she is a representative, nobody expects her to donate her money to anyone, but she does raise money in fundraisers all the time. She helps more people than most of her peers in congress. These fundraisers do NOT make you money, you may have some very backwards ideas about how money works in politics. Even the right respects AOC to an unusual degree, like they do Bernie Sanders. At least about policy and messaging. They care more about people than party.

        • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          I mean… 200K-300K-ish can get you a livable survivable place in an okay part of Philly… like there is no “drug dealers” in my area, its not lile “the wire”, its not Baltimore, it just… “Okay” not good, not bad.(15 years ago it was like 100K to 200K). I’ve never heard a gunshot in 15 years living here (or maybe I did and though it was fireworks, who knows). My mom got robbed once. That’s it. Its not a terrible place to live. I mean, I haven’t died, so… 🤷‍♂️

          But yea, there are places (like NYC) that’s unlivable, housing in NYC is just insane, its why we had to move out of NYC. (Brooklyn btw)

        • wellheh@lemmy.sdf.org
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          3 hours ago

          It’s clear he didn’t read the article, but it’s necessary to point out she doesn’t even 500k- it is assets, which means she’s as far down the hole as the rest of us.

      • Garland@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        With that amount of money she could not stop working now and live comfortably off of her funds for the rest of her life in the US. She is not rich.

      • FabledAepitaph@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        You have no idea what you’re talking about. 500k in assets is like a decent house that you’re still making payments on, a couple cars, and some 401k savings. People like that are not the problem. That lifestyle should be the base level for every single American, imo.

          • ContriteErudite@lemmy.world
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            7 hours ago

            It seems like you may be conflating having ~$500k net worth with being rich, which may not have been your intent, but it seemed that way based on context. I think what the other responder is getting at is that AOC is not rich. She may have a house, a car, and some retirement saved up. All of those are assets, but they do not translate into the kind of liquidity that many other American politicians have.

            She was working class before she entered into politics, and some would argue that she still is based on her work and advocacy. I don’t want to sound like I’m accusing your of anything, or putting words in your mouth, because that’s not my intent; I just want to point out a common belief held by a lot of Americans. Lumping someone in with the rich and then holding them in contempt merely because that person is richer than you is exactly the kind of us-versus-them mentality the ruling class wants us to have.

            • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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              6 hours ago

              She is rich. There is nothing inherently wrong with being rich. There is something wrong with being a lawmaker who is so out of touch with poor people that you dont realize your own privileges

              • ContriteErudite@lemmy.world
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                5 hours ago

                Can you explain why you think she is out of touch with poor people? I’m genuinely curious, because you may know something about her that I don’t, and if she’s as secretly two-faced as Sinema and Manchin, or has done something to actively denigrate or undermine the working class, I want to be informed.

                I understand that most poor people feel overlooked, ignored, and exploited by the rich, and that’s because that is exactly what they do–but their greatest trick is to make us think that it’s not their fault that we are poor. Please look again to the last sentence of my reply: Holding someone in contempt merely because they are richer than you is exactly what the billionaires want you to do, because it distracts and redirects anger away from them, and is just another tool they use to make the working class fight amongst themselves.

                • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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                  3 hours ago

                  She isnt richer than me. I have more money than she does.

                  I dont care if someone has money. That doesn’t make you a bad person. The issue is that she isnt aware how rich she is. That’s out of touch with reality.

              • null@slrpnk.net
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                6 hours ago

                There is something wrong with being a lawmaker who is so out of touch with poor people that you dont realize your own privileges

                What are you basing this on? Did you personally speak with AOC?

                • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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                  5 hours ago

                  In the article she said she has hundreds of thousands of dollars and also said she’s not rich

                  Edit: she didn’t say she’s not rich. She said she’s not a millionaire

          • t_chalco@lemmy.world
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            7 hours ago

            Sure, but your claim rests on a specific definition of what rich is. The notion that her gross assets, not liquidity, are such that she is in not of the working class (her assets produce enough wealth to live upon) glosses over the obscene wealth, corruption, and hoarding that the purpose of the conversation is trying to convey. “Yeah, but other Americans are poorer” is whataboutism in the face of someone interested in adresssing wealth disparity.

            • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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              7 hours ago

              If you’re surrounded by people who are millionaires and that becomes your definition of “rich” then you’ve become so out of touch with reality.

              There is a difference between someone with hundreds of thousands of dollars of net worth and someone with billions. Both are fucking rich.

              • acargitz@lemmy.ca
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                6 hours ago

                The middle class is so far gone in the US that people like you have difficulty remembering what it looks like.

              • TheFinn
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                7 hours ago

                If you can get bankrupted by an illness, you’re not rich.

                • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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                  5 hours ago

                  Yup and I can say by experience that even making 180K at a fortune 500 company, that makes you still not rich when medical shit goes south.

                • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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                  6 hours ago

                  By that definition, nobody is rich. You can spend 200 billion dollars trying to fight cancer and still die.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Americans are obligated to save individually for retirement and tax-incentivized to stockpile appreciating assets in personal trusts, in anticipation of becoming too old to work.

        It is not that unusual at all for a 30-something professional earning a six-figure salary to set aside 10-20% of that in savings. I suppose you can argue Congresscritters are overpaid and therefore anyone in a federally elected office is de facto not trying to help people. But then you’ve got a problem with how we handle retirement, not with how AOC handles her politics.

        • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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          7 hours ago

          Obligated? Most people have to wipe out their retirement funds when they get sick or have to bury their parents

          • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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            7 hours ago

            Yes, that’s what they meant by “obligated.”

            Our system as it currently exists forces, or “obligates,” people to have large rainy day funds.

              • RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com
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                6 hours ago

                The trick is taking them away slowly enough that every new generation of workers doesn’t even know what they’re missing.

                Line must go up, after all.

                What’s that, we’re being outpaced on a global scale such that our under-educated workers will soon no longer be able to rely on “We speak English without an accent?”

                That’s a problem for after I’m dead, so I’m not worried about it!

                • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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                  6 hours ago

                  Yeah, I really hope the younger generation gets their shit together and do what my generation couldn’t.

                  Man tried once at my software/engineering place, did not get very far at all unfortunately.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        8 hours ago

        Too bad she doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of MILLIONS of dollars or she could really help the little guy like Musk and his administration.

  • fuck_u_spez_in_particular@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.

    Lol, says the guy who’s currently at the top of corrupting world-politics…

  • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    Can we all please notice how under capitalism, you can refer to people being ‘worth’ a dollar amount? Money is something you have, it says nothing about who you are. I’m fine with having an amount of wealth, but your worth is not measured in dollars, that’s fucked

    • NoEsReal@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      I get what you’re saying. But the term is generally used to clarify that the amount quoted reflects the person’s assets and their value, and not just their liquid cash. Which a lot of people in this thread seem to not understand. I agree we should probably use a different term for that, but for now it works as easy short hand for “this is is how much this person owns in assets and liquid cash combined.”

      I might be wrong on this, but I think the term also includes income into the account, like how much someone brings in per year. And it might also subtract debt, though I’m not sure of either of those.

      • beepbeeplettuce@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 hours ago

        Just in case anyone is curious- It’s assets minus liabilities, so income is not directly included, but debt does get subtracted.

        I can agree with both comments here. It can be a useful to talk about, but the name of it is icky, especially if you’re tying your worth as a person to it (which definitely happens).

      • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        I agree we should probably use a different term for that,

        That’s literally all I said. I know what it means

  • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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    12 hours ago

    she is worth less than $500,000

    That sounds like a lot of money still, but I’d imagine public figures can easily leverage that to wealth so makes sense

    • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Jesus, people need to learn to read a damn article.

      Her financial disclosure form last year showed she had no more than $46,000 across her checking, savings, brokerage, and 401(k) accounts, and owed between $15,000 and $50,000 of student loans.

      Forbes estimated Ocasio-Cortez’s net worth last year at about $125,000 with most of her wealth in a Thrift Savings Plan — a 401(k)-style investment vehicle for government employees that doesn’t have to be listed in financial disclosures.

      And no it’s not that unusual for ordinary people to have 500k net worth. Buy a house, put in a few percent in your 401k in index funds, and there you go.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        3 hours ago

        For that matter, Millennials are going to need a $1M networth by retirement age. At least $1M. Now, AOC has some pension benefits as a member of Congress, so she’s not quite as ratfucked as the rest of us, but even if she had $500k, she’d be in the “good enough” range.

        • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          I’m the ass end of Gen-X and even I need to have at least 1.5 million to retire relatively comfortable so I’m thinking that 1 million isn’t going to be enough for Millennials.

          • frezik@midwest.social
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            2 hours ago

            I’m roughly around that age, too, and yeah, that’s about what I’m looking at. Even that makes certain assumptions about the US economy that may not hold for a few more decades.

            Read a little insight a while back. When boomers dreamed of being a millionaire, they dreamed of yachts and penthouse suites. When Millennials dream of being a millionaire, they dream of getting by OK without the rat race.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        Uhm, it’s her own damn words (from the article):

        You are completely making things up. I am not even worth $1 million. Or a half million. I am one of the lowest net worth members of Congress, trade no individual stock, and take no outside income. These filings are public. I loathe corruption, and your lying is reprehensible.

        https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1887197530573717552

        She specifically decided to say “less than half million” which sounded a lot to me.

        • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Sigh…

          Even when putting up literally text and numbers, you can’t read or math.

          Alright let’s break it down.

          45,000 savings + 125000 government 401k = 170,000

          Now let’s compare numbers here. 500,000 is a bigger number than 170,000

          So what she said, given our known facts and assumptions, what she said is absolutely true. She’s not with half a million, she’s worth 170,000 USD and a 125,000 of that isn’t even really available to her because it’s a retirement savings account.

          For fucks sake, she’s wasn’t saying she had 500,000 dollars in cash on her. She was being ever so slightly hyperbolic to make a point that she’s not rich.

          Cripes, reading is so fundamental.

          • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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            6 hours ago

            I don’t know if you get that I’m reacting to what she said. Saying she isn’t worth “even” half a million sounded a lot to me since I didn’t realize the average was so high in the US. It sounded high for saying you’re not worth “even” that. Idk if you get what I mean.

            But really you’re getting bent out of shape over something very unnecessary. I suggest calming down.

        • candybrie@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          How does “I’m not even worth half a million” mean “I have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank” to people. I don’t get it.

          If you have a retirement account and a home, you’re probably worth more than that anyway.

          • boonhet@lemm.ee
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            7 hours ago

            The name Kusimulkku is very much Finnish (it means peehole). Houses don’t all cost half a million dollars there and retirement is funded through taxation. 500k net worth in Finland is comparable to being a millionaire in the US I would say. You would probably have 6 digits in your bank account OR own majority of a small company if you’re worth 500k.

            A lot of people also don’t count their only residence as part of their net worth as it’s their home, not an investment vehicle and definitely not liquid. Things change when you can afford multiple properties, but you aren’t going to sell your only home just because it has appreciated - everything else has likely also gone up then.

            Just saying, his perspective coule be very different from yours. I know this because I’m Estonian and 500k to me sounds like a pretty high net worth.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              6 hours ago

              Houses don’t all cost half a million dollars there and retirement is funded through taxation.

              I suppose we could be cheeky, take Solidium - the Finnish sovereign wealth fund - and amortize assets across the population as “collective wealth”. But holding individuals with 401ks to account for being “rich” because they’re doing the only legally expedient form of retirement savings is absurd, I agree.

            • candybrie@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              I think my point is more along the lines of “I don’t even have half a million dollars” doesn’t imply to me that they have half a million dollars.

              • boonhet@lemm.ee
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                7 hours ago

                Hmm to me it implies it’s close though. Maybe 300k, maybe 400k. At her age it would be an impressive where I come from.

                • candybrie@lemmy.world
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                  I think if she anchored it different, I might think like you. But “I don’t have a million; not half a million either” doesn’t imply to me it’s close. Maybe like 100k. But saying that she said she’s worth so much and quoting her saying “I’m not even worth X” as the proof is nonsense. Especially in response to someone with quotes from the article stating that it’s like $125k.

    • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net
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      12 hours ago

      She doesn’t even own her own home, or she lives in a shark at that value. No second property: no cottage or landlording.

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        11 hours ago

        She has to have two places one in DC and one in her district. She like.y cannot afford that at her salary as both places are extremely expensive

        • candybrie@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          You have to fund your own retirement. The social safety net is constantly threatening to be removed and it doesn’t cover much to start with. And homes are stupid expensive. Especially in the places where AOC has to have places to live.

        • TheFinn
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          7 hours ago

          That we can’t afford to use because we don’t have a safety net.

          My net worth is probably just under half a million but I’ll be working until I’m over 70 if I want to be able to pass anything useful down to my kids.

          I have one with special needs that likely won’t be able to work, much less manage a portfolio.Without my help he could be homeless soon after I pass.

        • Furbag@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          It’s amazing how so much of our wealth is tied up in “assets” as opposed to liquid cash. I probably have just slightly less in assets than AOC at the moment, but I also don’t own a home, so if I ever managed to buy one my net worth would skyrocket beyond hers but I’d be housepoor and most likely living paycheck to paycheck. I’m not even close to being considered conventionally wealthy, and the distance between me and a billionaire is almost literally unfathomable.

        • C A B B A G E@feddit.uk
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          11 hours ago

          Anywhere property is massively over valued this is going to be true.

          Even taking off what I owe in mortgage my net worth would make me look pretty well off in the UK, but I earn a pretty below average wage.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      Do you live in the USA? That’s not even the price of an “okay” median house in a middle-class neighborhood. That’s a nice chunk to have in the bank or have in investments, but if you ever want to retire at a decent age and not spend your later years eating canned beans in a mobile home, you need to save up more than a million unless you have some specific plans for your future.

      A lot of people have a lot of huge misconceptions about the wealth in the US. We may be the richest nation but we spend the most also, and the costs are skyrocketing beyond even the highest normal wages. You simply cannot own a house on a single income. In many other countries $20 USD will get you a week’s worth of hot meals, here you can accidentally spend $50 running out to the grocery store for several ingredients for dinner or a half dozen frozen meals.

  • SabinStargem@lemmings.world
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    22 hours ago

    I hope that AOC has a security detail, a go bag and plan, and an ideal state to reside in. It is my expectation for Yarvin’s Cabel to try to capture or assasinate her at some point, since she is one of the few major lightning rods to be the president of a Free America. We will need great people to organize the defense of our people against the fascist agenda.

    Bernie, AOC, others, stay safe and strong. 🖖

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      4 hours ago

      333 upvotes and i’m the only one downvoting… We are on lemmy a decentralized and open source platform. Do you really feel this person who use X and meta, who gets featured daily on mass media and who is a member of the red and blue party is ever going to make an actual improvement? The hope for america is that people wake up and realize how hard they are getting fooled by the government.

      • CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee
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        35 minutes ago

        Lemmy is small mastodon is a little bigger but still absolutely tiny compared to those other social media platforms. The politicians should be where their base is which is twitter and the meta platforms.

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      I’m glad it seems that many democrats are quitting their Gatekeeping bullshit with AOC.

      So frustrating to see people so concerned about the perception of some strawman caricature the right manufacture for our best fighters that we turn on our own. If it wasn’t obvious, they attack her so relentlessly because they fear her and know her potential more some of our own.

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        23 hours ago

        Nancy Pelosi dedicated the month before Trump was inaugurated to ensuring AOC, a spoiler leftist in a sea of her crony neoliberals, didn’t get an oversight committee seat.

        Neoliberals Democrats hate actual leftwing politicians far more than they hate their fascist opposition party. Makes sense, Fascists and neoliberals have the same bosses and take the same bribe checks.

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        I’m more moderate and have always respected AOC, but thought she was too extreme to make a good president. I genuinely believe that the president should be someone who wants to build coalitions and steer the country towards a better future without allowing it to fracture. I still believe that, but I recognize now that my way of thinking can’t win elections in this modern era of politics. Now is the time for a firebrand - someone who would rather lose than compromise. I would still be worried about civil war if AOC became president, but I’m already worried about that now, so no point in holding it against her.

        • moakley@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          AOC can build coalitions. She even wrote legislation with Ted Cruz. She only stopped working with him after he effectively tried to have her killed on January 6th.

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          The irony here is AOC is the one who can build meaningful coalitions you haven’t even realized are possible yet.

          The working class is the largest player in this game and she speaks directly to the working class of all stripes.

          Moderate neoliberal DINOs speak only to capitalists. That’s why they lost their old base who all went to the right.

        • SabinStargem@lemmings.world
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          22 hours ago

          I think compromise can only work, if the the other guy thought they could lose it all if things went terribly. Compromising ahead of time says “We both get something, no matter what.” Which in turn removes the fear of loss.

          This is a bad quality in a politician, as it excuses sleeping at the wheel. There is no fire under their ass to keep them awake.

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        A thought I had a few days ago,

        The left is all about inclusivity and forgiveness unless you’ve made any amount of mispropriety, then it’s a race to drop you as quick as possible.

        The right is all about being held accountable for your transgressions, law and order, you do the crime you pay the time, but they have 0 cares about their leaders being held accountable.

        I feel like each party is the watchdog for the others politicians, and the left is way too accepting of the right wings transgressions, while the right wing hammers the left as quick and hard as possible (except we just do it to ourselves!)

        • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
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          I agree with you, except the Democrats are only “left” when compared to Republicans. The USA has a conservative party and a fascist one.

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        Just looked him up and he looks shit.

        AOC is great because she is outspoken and holds actual left wing values compared to 99.9% of her party.

        This clown seems like a Kamala-lite with his boasting on his law enforcement and military service history.

        • _wizard@lemmy.world
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          He’s one of the few checks that is actively trying to to regain balance to this shit show. Do not discount a lawyer at the state level.

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            There’s a difference between offering opposition to outright fascism, and being the hope of the future of a political party. The bar is so low right now that I’m happy whenever I hear of someone pushing back in any amount, but AOCs passion and unrelenting sense of justice is fucking inspiring.

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      We would need 60 of her in the senate, or literally anybody else on the blue team, for America to have any hope. Otherwise Republicans will filibuster any spec of salvation.

      • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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        Which is why, for now, the Democrats need to be pulling all the tactics McConnell demonstrated for them under Obama.

        FILIBUSTER EVERYTHING.

        This is not the time for Democrats to be the Party of smooth-running government.

        Use those loopholes the Right-stealers gave themselves in the rules. The only thing they should be voting for is bills that entangle, delay, or reject Trump’s blitzkrieg.

        And if they have to talk across the aisle, it should be to remind them that if they hand the Power of the Purse over now, they’ll never get it back and they’ll lose all their value to lobbyists, all their stock-market prescience, all their importance back home.

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          That’s the fun part, the Republicans in Congress are hardly even attempting to pass any laws. All they’re doing is appointments, which can’t be filibustered as of 2013, except for SCOTUS which can’t be filibustered as of 2017.

          All they have to do now is not stop Trump and they win, because Congress is in charge of reigning him in.

          You cannot filibuster against doing nothing.

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            22 hours ago

            What do you mean, “can’t be filibustered?” You fucking shout to drown out the person trying to conduct the vote, and you don’t stop until you and every other non-fascist have been forcibly removed.

            • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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              22 hours ago

              I know you were talking about an old timey filibuster and not the modern one.

              But for anyone curious, Certain spending bills — bills that deal with spending, revenue, and the debt ceiling — only require a simple majority. There’s a bunch of rules about what can be in the bills and how many times a year you can use reconciliation (once for each of the three topics per year). Basically, no policy changes; just the basic budget stuff allowed.

              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_States_Congress)

              Not that rules matter in DC anymore. Congress is apparently letting Elon Musk handle appropriations and if Republicans don’t care about the Constitution (or even their own personal power), I doubt like they’ll be worried about following Senate procedure.

            • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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              Obstruction of Congress is a Felony, that is why all the rules are laid out for who gets to speak at what time. Anything outside what is explicitly allowed, believe it or not, straight to jail.

              Now if they can get the Capitol Police on their side for a little while that would by them time until the National Guard shows up, but then what?

                • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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                  22 hours ago

                  sorry for the duplicate comment, the page crashed while I was submitting it so I redid it lol

                  Legal only matters based on enforcement, and Republicans are in charge of enforcement, so it’s a real conundrum. Feel free to try if you want, though.

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      1 day ago

      I hope that we can also get a younger white male progressive to work along side her. Not because I think they’d be better, but it might help draw emotionally fragile men who can’t accept a woman in charge. Also, it would mean another progressive reaching the masses, which is always good.

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        A lot of men are sick of being told they’re emotionally fragile for not wanting to be accused of thoughtcrime. Both sides are responsible for this situation and it doesn’t help to attack the base you’re seeking support from. Dems and you need to learn this.

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        A millionaire lawyer who

        was named as co-chair of the 2024 Harris-Walz campaign and is currently a part of the Democratic Congressional Progressive Caucus.

        While giving her husband huge security contracts and buying houses in Hawaii?

        Hard pass

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          Go on you valiant crusader.

          Continue to shit on anyone who isn’t perfect,

          Please let us know when you find the correct candidate.

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            I did, it was AOC. I said so up above.

            The last thing anyone needs right now is more of the same Democrats who never walk the walk, we need more AOCs.

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            I mean let’s be honest with ourselves: Anyone who had any relation with the braindead mess that was the Walz-Harris campaign should be instantly made out of consideration.

            • RippleEffect@lemm.ee
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              1 day ago

              Walz seemed like a pretty decent choice and I liked him a bit. Is there something I’m not realizing about him?

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                I’m talking more about the absolutely moronic way the campaign was run than the candidates themselves. Harris and Walz themselves were salvageable (sans Gaza, they were genuinely hopeless there) but anyone who was involved in actually running the campaign and deciding the platform is either braindead or a corporate stooge and either way shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near future elections.

                Also to answer your question Walz is the “Israel has a right to expand its borders” guy.

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      1 day ago

      she’s the real deal, but i fear she’s been too vilified by the diaper and his cult, and the far-right wastes of humanity that broadcast all the bullshit that enable him, to make successful run for the white house.

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        Any effective progressive is going to be vilified. They will be attacked from all sides, and all of their dirty laundry will be made public. Every flaw, every misstep, every gaff, all of it will be blown out of proportion by the machine they threaten.

        • SabinStargem@lemmings.world
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          22 hours ago

          They should embrace it. Point out that they are NOT the old guard, and point out the hypocrisy. Trump is a literal rapist. Get the poor women who got molested onto billboards, church sermons, ask musicians to make songs about how crappy Trump is.

          The passivity of the Geronocrats is why they lost the respect of people.

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          23 hours ago

          Bernie knew this, to his credit, and made a point to repeat it often, but people weren’t hearing it.

      • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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        1 day ago

        And Trump hasn’t been vilified?

        Vilification doesn’t matter, getting people to turn up matters.

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      21 hours ago

      It’s pretty absurd that y’all qaeda bitch about all the money that (insert lib politician) makes while throwing money or votes at billionaires who then turn around and accuse lib politicians like AOC or Sanders of being rich.