Update:
I wrote this on the morning of June 5, 20205. I am deeply sceptical of AOC and, to be frank, of most people who call themselves “socialists” these days. But, as the essay below points out, we may have reasons for hope despite any scepticism we might feel. I took a nap later in the day, and woke up to the news of the greatest bromance breakup of our times. We will all be keeping our eyes on the news, and should remain aware that countless lives have been broken in the last few months because of the collusion between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. But perhaps we can keep hoping.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has finally endorsed Zohran Mamdani.
This says little about AOC’s worth, value, and integrity as a politician but everything about shifting public tides, which is all she responds to. We can be optimistic about the latter.
Cuomo, the former governor of the entire state of New York had to step down from his office in 2021, as a proven serial harasser of women and for being responsible for Covid deaths. Both facts should have prevented anyone from running for Bum-Wiper of Pigeons, but here we are: it’s 2025 and a combination of “pussy-grabbing” and corruption is a required credential for public office. That AOC did not come out strongly condemning his candidacy earlier is not a surprise but a shock, given her frequent criticisms of misogyny. She has finally made it clear that it’s critical to keep Cuomo out of public office.
As perhaps the most popular left-seeming candidate in the country after Bernie Sanders, AOC’s endorsement of an immigrant, socialist, Muslim candidate who has not wavered on his commitment to issues like ending the housing crisis and his criticism of an ongoing genocide has mattered deeply to commentators and voters. Only last week, New York magazine pointed out that the time for her endorsement to stay relevant was quickly slipping by.
AOC has proven herself to be a politician who makes extremely calculated decisions based entirely on whether or not they will advance her career. You can read more about that in Lily Sánchez’s essay here, and my own, here. You might argue that, well, a politicians’s job is to win in order to carry out her agenda, but we also have a right to demand that she maintain some degree of integrity. At crucial moments, like this one, AOC has betrayed her own core allies. For this and other reasons, I have no doubt that she will one day attain her goal to be the first woman president. She will not do this as a stealth socialist masquerading as a milquetoast liberal, but as a milquetoast liberal who understands how to use the socialist label to advance her career when necessary. I fully expect her to disappoint everyone on the left, even on matters as critical as abortion rights, over the next many years, but she is slippery enough to know how to keep her base going, and will continue to advance. She has never made a political decision without an eye on what will prove to be an advantage to her and knows how to lie effortlessly. When it comes to AOC’s public statements, we should always wonder: what does she know? She has proven time and again that she sees which way the wind might be shifting: a weathervane politician without any real commitments, but with an excellent sense for knowing how to land on the winning side.
For that reason, I am optimistic about AOC’s endorsement because we can assume that the tide is shifting on key issues. There are signs everywhere that the public is increasingly less receptive to the relentless terror campaigns on immigrants, is questioning what is happening in Gaza, and that it is more sceptical of the idea that billionaires will deliver us from hard times. AOC, who has clearly researched her position thoroughly, is not endorsing Mamdani because of his political beliefs but because she sees the changes coming over the long term, after the election. Looking down the long arc of history and through AOC’s lenses, we can, even if cautiously, look forward to bigger changes.
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Image: Kara McCurdy, Wikipedia
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