Opposition Leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'In This Country We Hate Nazis.'
Pretty sure AOC's Insta Lives are about to become appointment viewing for millions of decent Americans.
Yesterday, 13 Senate Democrats wrote a letter to Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune begging him not to pass their next big Nazi immigration bill using reconciliation — the thing where they can pass “budget” bills with only 50 votes instead of 60 — and instead come together bipartisanly with the bipartisanly Democrats, who are eager, so very eager, to help, bipartisanly!
You know, because some Democrats think they can Work Together with Republicans on Common Sense Solutions facing All Americans, even while keeping their hands clean from the more unsavory things the Nazis are doing.
Ooh! Ooh! Maybe this time the Republicans will let a Democrat pick which white woman to name the bill after! Or maybe they can each name one of the buildings in the first concentration camp!
Bipartisanly!
These useless motherfuckers.
And yes, we know a handful of the Senate Democrats who sent that letter represent swing states and are up in 2026, and have fallen prey to the notion that if only they do “Common Sense Work Together, Bipartisanly!” then Fox News and Trump will hold their fire and not label them as woke DEI commu-socialist gayqueers. LOL, you betcha.
The others who aren’t up in 2026 are just being morons. It’s a whole new world, folks. Catch up.
Wajahat Ali posted this on Bluesky, and it’s a good starting list of Democrats emerging as leaders this past couple weeks, including Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who has been raising loud alarms about the imminent end of American democracy.
There are other leaders out there, to be sure, and more good ones will emerge.
For our money, though, right now the leader of the opposition is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (We knew it when we saw her DNC speech, although at the time we hoped she wasn’t going to be the leader of the “opposition,” per se.)
Did you see her on the House floor yesterday, calling out Republicans and Vichy Democrats supporting this godawful Laken Riley Act, which allows the detention of migrants if some racist hick so much as points at them and says they seem crime-y? Did you see her say this?
“When a private prison camp opens in your town, and they say we didn’t know this was going to happen, know that they did, and they voted for it. When a DREAM-er is disappeared from your classroom, when the president of the United States destroys what is left of the Constitution, as he’s announced in this attack on birthright citizenship, they will all say we didn’t know this was coming. And I want the American people to know that they did. This vote represents it. And with that, I yield back.”
Here is a whole ass clip, courtesy of Newsweek:
Yeah, for our money, she’s the leader of the opposition. When the shadow Cabinet, or people’s Cabinet, is built — and it needs to be, quickly — she needs at the very least one of the three most prominent roles.
This week AOC, as she is known in the world of initials, hopped on Insta Live, and it sounds like she’s going to do it every week in this new era, maybe more. We watched every bit of it, and we think it may be our first weekly assignment of the era of Stupid Hitler, to help keep us connected, to keep us focused, and to keep us sane.
“In this country we hate Nazis.” That was a thing she said early on during the Insta Live. She said we’re kind of known as a country for two really good things — “We beat the Confederates and we beat the Nazis” — and said that’s a good place to start as we move forward in this moment.
She talked about not obeying in advance, specifically focusing her remarks on everything Donald Trump is trying to do with immigration, things he actually doesn’t have the power to do. Taking away birthright citizenship? Go fuck yourself. That’s not the law, that’s not the Constitution.
‘They’re relying on us giving up. Hell no!” she said.
She had this crucial advice for people who might not know what to do if/when this happens: “When ICE knocks on your door, say show me a warrant.”
She talked about useful idiots who think oh, but Trump isn’t going after regular old immigrants, he’s just going after criminals! A warning before the leopard bites their face:
“For all the people who say oh they’re only going after quote unquote illegals […] please, like, really? Please, you are getting so duped. Please I am begging you, do not be born yesterday.”
“They’re going after immigrants, period.”
She talked about Democrats who are caving and obeying in advance and trying to work with the Nazis, saying that it “breaks my heart to see so many people voting to gut civil liberties in the United States, but I also understand why.” She pointed to the influence of Fox News and what it does people who refuse to comply with the Nazi regime.
But she also kept things in perspective, reminding us that Donald Trump did not even get 50 percent of the votes of the people who bothered to vote. “Half of the country thinks this is BS,” she said.
“They’re acting like this was a landslide, they’re acting like they actually won a majority of Latinos and Black people. No.”
No.
She talked about Donald Trump’s techbro boss Elon Musk and his little Nazi salute, and suggested that should put a spring in our step and keep us hydrated for this fight: “You’re going to do Heil Hitler […] from behind the seal of the United States of America? IT’S ON.”
“We will sustain one another,” she said. She encouraged those watching to stay grounded in what is real, and to keep signaling what we believe. To not be fooled by those who want us to “think everyone has given up.” People are just “reorganizing themselves” and “reorienting ourselves,” she said.
She told those watching to keep a light on so people can see it, to keep a candle burning. “Don’t let these people’s bullshit get you down.”
Here is where you may watch what may be one of the most important weekly dispatches of the next four years. It’s a place to start.
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I had just made a comment on Rebecca's Wonkette Tabs that the House Democrats missed an opportunity when they didn't elect AOC the ranking minority party member on the House Oversight Committee. That's a place where you need an effective communicator.
All it took was ONE Black president and about fifteen minutes of "Me, too." and white men across the land lost their fucking minds. While it's mostly a Republican problem, we can't ignore the Dems who turned on Hillary or the ones who somehow couldn't make it to the polls for Kamala.