The song “Right Here, Right Now” by Jesus Jones opens with the line, “A woman on the radio talks about revolution, when it's already passed her by.” There are some people who peeked in high school and never got over it – never changing their hair or general style from when they were at the pinnacle of popularity. It’s sad, really, not that the person seems frozen in the midst of good memories from long ago, but that they haven’t continued to advance since then. Life has lapped them; passed them by and left them in the dust. In many ways, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is like that person who hasn’t moved forward, having been lapped by events and left behind by the “revolution” she was the spokesmodel for.
When AOC first came to Washington, she was the belle of the ball. Bernie Sanders was the only open socialist, or “democratic socialist,” in town. He was hairy, old and ugly, she – buckteeth and whiny voice aside – is easier to watch…on mute, at least.
Sandy Cortez, as she was known before wrapping herself in identity politics, survived saying incredibly dumb things and a naiveté about the basics of foreign policy and American exceptionalism through a fawning press and the adulation of fanboys. She was a pin-up girl for unshowered virgins and violent ANTIFA alike.
There wasn’t a left-wing event not clamoring to get AOC to show up, or even just tweet about it. The entire left was her playground.
But, like a Hollywood “It Girl” who turned 35, she got old (metaphorically) and the adulation began to wander. After several years of no accomplishments and a series of soundbites that would embarrass anyone with a pulse, the extreme left saw her star fade.
All the fanfare, and all the money raised, hadn’t amounted to anything. What’s the point of power if you don’t use it to impose your will on a public that doesn’t want it…in the name of “democracy,” naturally?
Then along came Zohran Mamdani.
The amount of attention Mamdani got lapped AOC, even as she campaigned with him. His star out-shined hers in ways she wasn’t prepared for and hasn’t recovered from. As a Member of the House, AOC can’t do anything – one of 435, even a “famous” one, does not matter. But the Mayor of New York City, no less, can get things done.
He was the new belle of the ball, she was the old ex who still came around, trying to be friends. The tarnish was building.
Now there are three newer socialists, all acolytes of Mamdani’s (not AOC’s) heading to DC. These aren’t “squad” members looking to rock the boat, they want to blow a hole in it and sink it. AOC helped rile up the radical left, but she never advocated or excused violence, nor did she push for extreme anti-American policies. Un-American, sure, but not designed to deliberately hurt the country, or at least she didn’t think they would.
This new batch is openly seeking to “destroy Western civilization.” AOC is crazy, but in a naïve way because, well, she’s naïve and ignorant. These people know exactly what they’re pushing and why, and they are indifferent toward the harm their policies will inflict.
Under AOC, individuals harmed by policies for “the greater good” are a tragedy, for this new group they are a feature, not a bug. Individuals are expendable to the new left and they aren’t interested in what people want and don’t, they’re going to force their will on them either way.
AOC seems quaint compared to these people.
The leftist corporate media is focusing on them like they’re the cure of cancer, burning all the calories it takes to walk back their past statements and sugar coat their racism and anti-Americanism. All those calories that used to be burned defending and propping up AOC are now going elsewhere, as the revolution has passed her by.
While it’s funny, and in a couple of years it’s likely she will be a back-bench answer to a trivia question, it’s also a warning for the country. If a person who was a radical just a couple of years ago is now seen as too tame and lame for the next wave of loons, that does not bode well for the Democrat Party or the country, when they regain power (and they will, at some point, regain power).
The old leftist saying of “Lead, follow or get out of the way” has run over AOC. Laugh all you want. I will, but we all have to make sure the rest of the country isn’t next.
Derek Hunter is the host of the Derek Hunter Show on WMAL in Washington, DC, and has a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.