US "The Squad" Megathread - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib Derangement Syndrome

I honestly only know about American politics from what I read on the Internet but since we all love shitting on leftists I figured we'd get a kick out of this. Also it's trending on Twitter so you know it's important.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...irect=on&noredirect=on&utm_term=.960552c9ba53

NEW YORK — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political novice running on a low budget and an unabashedly liberal platform, upset longtime U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley on Tuesday in the Democratic congressional primary in New York.

The surprise victory by the community organizer in a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Queens came after an energetic, grassroots campaign that mustered more than enough support in a low-turnout race that many had expected to be an easy win for Crowley, a member of the Democratic House leadership.

“The community is ready for a movement of economic and social justice. That is what we tried to deliver,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who has never held elected office and whose candidacy attracted only modest media attention.

She told The Associated Press after her victory that she didn’t have enough money to do polling in the race, but felt in her gut that her message had a chance to connect.

“I live in this community. I organized in this community. I felt the absence of the incumbent. I knew he didn’t have a strong presence,” she said.

Crowley has been in Congress since 1999 and hadn’t faced an opponent in a primary election since 2004, when Ocasio-Cortez was just a teenager. He was considered a candidate to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the majority.

“It’s not about me,” Crowley, 56, told his supporters at a campaign party following his loss. “It’s about America. I want nothing but the best for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I want her to be victorious.”

He later played guitar with a band at the election night gathering, and dedicated the first song, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” to Ocasio-Cortez.

Crowley represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, where he is also the leader of the Queens Democratic party.

Ocasio-Cortez was outspent by an 18-1 margin during her race but won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party’s far left, including MoveOn, as well as the actress Cynthia Nixon, who is running for governor. She defeated Crowley by 15 percentage points.

Born in the Bronx to a mother from Puerto Rico and a father who died in 2008, Ocasio-Cortez said she decided to challenge Crowley to push a more progressive stance on economic and other issues.

She attended Boston University, where she earned degrees in economics and international relations, and also spent time working in the office of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

After graduating, she returned to the Bronx where she became a community organizer. In the 2016 presidential campaign she worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Among her issues is expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She recently went to Tornillo, Texas, to protest against policies that have separated parents from their children at the southern U.S. border.

Ocasio-Cortez gained some internet attention for a campaign video called “The Courage to Change,” a two-minute spot for which she wrote the script and featured footage from her own home.

Crowley is chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth-highest ranking position in Democratic leadership in that chamber of Congress.

His loss drew the attention of President Donald Trump.

“Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!” he tweeted.

The Republican candidate for the office, Anthony Pappas, is running unopposed and had no primary. Pappas teaches economics at St. John’s University.

She was a Bernie campaigner, is supported by BLM, and wants to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Also this was in a solid-blue Congressional District so you know she's a shoo-in for next Congress.

But hey, we did get to see Trump laugh at Crowley on Twitter.

 

[Marissa Moira]

See, as someone who leans more towards anarcho- politics, I don't really care if a socialist sweep starts creeping up the Democratic Party. It may lead to an actual situation where third parties form, coalitions have to be made, shit like that. You know, like every other government on the planet. I feel like more would get done for this country, and better, if more groups were sitting at the table.

I dunno, I'm a little hungover so bear with me if I sound kinda out of it.


EDIT: Damn I am so far behind on this thread.

America has always functioned with the two parties being gutted every few decades and having a realignment. The Republican party of today isn't the republican party of the 1980's or 90's.

With the Democrats it's the same fucking people from the 1980's and 90's trying to hold on from being removed.

 

[heyitsmike]

Would be hilarious if this disastrous impeachment push is just an intricate plot to jettison the tard squad.

There are over 30 million rabid Marxists in this country. Where exactly do you think they're going?

They are the Dems' problem for at least another generation.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

There are over 30 million rabid Marxists in this country. Where exactly do you think they're going?

They are the Dems' problem for at least another generation.

They're the country's problem. They're not even mostly actual marxists, they have 'Babby's First' understanding of Marxist principle, have never actually read the Manifesto, and just believe that Socialism is 'No Work, Free Shit'. And it's definitely gonna last more than a generation if the likes of Cortez dig their talons in.

 

[TowinKarz]

The US doesn't have a vote of no-confidence. That's a thing in countries with a parliamentary system, not presidential systems.

Their lack of civic knowledge is as funny as it is troubling..... how many of the impreeeeeeeeeeech crowd right now know that:

- A successful impeachment vote doesn't mean removal, it means it goes to the Senate
- The senate probably won't convict
- If they do convict, they do not necessarily then agree to remove
- If they do remove, Pence is next, not some kind of emergency replacement election that goes by popular vote
-There's nothing in the law that says Trump can't run AGAIN. Even if they squeeze this into a year, it's an Election Year in 2020, and Trump wouldn't have to do much to win and get right back in. You can run for a second term, and impeachment on your previous one is not a disqualifier. But, Constitutional Double-Jeopardy means they couldn't impeach him again unless they found new charges.

That said, I do wish he would name someone other than Pence. Pence isn't a viable 2024 candidate.

VP's aren't meant to follow their boss, as a rule, they fail when they try (Gore) and the only one to actually definitively and convincingly do so (Bush I) didn't last long and left a stinky legacy. They're just a way to broaden the ticket by having a few notable policy positions their mate does not to rope in fence-sitters who realize that having the VP spout their beliefs at the occasional PTA luncheon appearance is better than having nothing for 4 years.

Pence was only brought on to keep the leftover and geriatric RR supporters from staying home/defecting to a hopeless 3rd party option.

America has always functioned with the two parties being gutted every few decades and having a realignment. The Republican party of today isn't the republican party of the 1980's or 90's.

With the Democrats it's the same fucking people from the 1980's and 90's trying to hold on from being removed.

The modern left has enjoyed a much longer tenure than most, having lasted about 2.5x as long as the usual one-decade standard before a paradigm shift resets the party, which is why they're so utterly fractured and incompetent right now, they didn't plan for what to do next, they believed their longer-than-average viability was not a fluke, but, the end of history/ permanent leftist demographic asserting itself and they've been running on raw emotion and moral outrage for the last 8 years, and have no idea what to do to hold on to power because they never expected to face a serious challenge, much less lose it, much less lose it badly.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

The modern left has enjoyed a much longer tenure than most, having lasted about 2.5x as long as the usual one-decade standard before a paradigm shift resets the party, which is why they're so utterly fractured and incompetent right now, they didn't plan for what to do next, they believed their longer-than-average viability was not a fluke, but, the end of history/ permanent leftist demographic asserting itself and they've been running on raw emotion and moral outrage for the last 8 years, and have no idea what to do to hold on to power because they never expected to lose it, much less legitimately.

The party was already fracturing, but they had a great unifier throughout most of their run. "Fuck Bush", then "Fuck anyone who doesn't like Obama", then "Fuck Trump." The problem is that now the party is graduating from "Fuck X" to "what are we gonna do once X is fucked?" Perhaps in 2008 they had a unified answer, but now they don't, and that's causing the party to crack like an egg. If they lose 2020, I predict the party quite literally shattering.

 

[heyitsmike]

They're the country's problem. They're not even mostly actual marxists, they have 'Babby's First' understanding of Marxist principle, have never actually read the Manifesto, and just believe that Socialism is 'No Work, Free Shit'. And it's definitely gonna last more than a generation if the likes of Cortez dig their talons in.

Both parties have or are shedding their neoconservative and neoliberal platforms. As I said on the TDS thread, besides Obamacare you'd be hardpressed to find much difference between second term George W. Bush and first term Barack Obama.

But now that there is a distinct choice, between nationalist populist individualist capitalism on the right and globalist elitist collectivist socialism on the left, they are screwed.

The right is not ever going to convince them, but it doesn't matter. The right will have numbers because the middle will have to pick a side. You don't have to persuade them or compromise with them when you can just outvote them. Outvote them, implement conservative policies and meanwhile ignore their crying in the background.

 

[Unog]

See, as someone who leans more towards anarcho- politics, I don't really care if a socialist sweep starts creeping up the Democratic Party. It may lead to an actual situation where third parties form, coalitions have to be made, shit like that. You know, like every other government on the planet. I feel like more would get done for this country, and better, if more groups were sitting at the table.

Because having multiple parties has worked out so well for Europe.

More parties = better government is a meme at this point with the notable exception of single-party states like China. We've also got diversity within the parties which leads to happenings like the oncoming DNC "civil war" which helps to restructure the parties when they go batshit insane.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

Because having multiple parties has worked out so well for Europe.

More parties = better government is a meme at this point with the notable exception of single-party states like China. We've also got diversity within the parties which leads to happenings like the oncoming DNC "civil war" which helps to restructure the parties when they go batshit insane.

Fair point, fair point. I personally don't really ken to the two-party system as it is... but then again, I don't ken to any sort of government.

 

[Unog]

Fair point, fair point. I personally don't really ken to the two-party system as it is... but then again, I don't ken to any sort of government.

In times like these I can hardly blame you for the sentiment.

 

[Syaoran Li]

There are over 30 million rabid Marxists in this country. Where exactly do you think they're going?

They are the Dems' problem for at least another generation.

Possibly, although if The Squad gets kicked out of office, it may be enough to get the dyed-hair wannabe Bolsheviks to leave the Democratic Party and try to form their own party with intersectional blackjack and non-binary hookers!

And that party will flounder like all the other third party groups in America. At best, they might be a "major" third party that fields a spoiler candidate every so many years. Or they'll just join the Greens.

They're the country's problem. They're not even mostly actual marxists, they have 'Babby's First' understanding of Marxist principle, have never actually read the Manifesto, and just believe that Socialism is 'No Work, Free Shit'. And it's definitely gonna last more than a generation if the likes of Cortez dig their talons in.

Sort of. It really depends on how the 2020 Election turns out. The DNC are pandering to these hipster Bolsheviks since they think 2016 was a fluke. If Trump gets reelected, reality will sink in and the Marxists will be thrown into the trash by the neoliberal bigwigs.

We're already starting to see a genuine backlash against the cultural zeitgeist of the Millennial Left. With all the mishaps that the Left has been suffering on multiple fronts throughout 2019, they're due for a collapse.

As it is, the SJW zeitgeist is being kept afloat by neoliberal corporatist types since the various factions of the Millennial Left make great useful idiots. Trump winning in 2020 will largely render the SJW's useless in the eyes of the corporate big shots.

If AOC and the other members of The Squad get primaried out of office or end up being branded as pariahs by the DNC post-2020, the Marxists will be powerless. If Trump wins in 2020, the useful idiots will now be useless and the best that the Left can hope for is that they become a despised sub-faction within the Democratic Party that is only viable in a few select regions, sort of like how the Religious Right eventually became for the Republican Party.

The blind NPC sheep will likely abandon their past leftist convictions as they get older, just like the New Left did before them when they went from hippie to yuppie. The more devoted SJW types will likely either commit suicide or live a life of irrelevancy and failure.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

Possibly, although if The Squad gets kicked out of office, it may be enough to get the dyed-hair wannabe Bolsheviks to leave the Democratic Party and try to form their own party with intersectional blackjack and non-binary hookers!

And that party will flounder like all the other third party groups in America. At best, they might be a "major" third party that fields a spoiler candidate every so many years. Or they'll just join the Greens.



Sort of. It really depends on how the 2020 Election turns out. The DNC are pandering to these hipster Bolsheviks since they think 2016 was a fluke. If Trump gets reelected, reality will sink in and the Marxists will be thrown into the trash by the neoliberal bigwigs.

We're already starting to see a genuine backlash against the cultural zeitgeist of the Millennial Left. With all the mishaps that the Left has been suffering on multiple fronts throughout 2019, they're due for a collapse.

As it is, the SJW zeitgeist is being kept afloat by neoliberal corporatist types since the various factions of the Millennial Left make great useful idiots. Trump winning in 2020 will largely render the SJW's useless in the eyes of the corporate big shots.

If AOC and the other members of The Squad get primaried out of office or end up being branded as pariahs by the DNC post-2020, the Marxists will be powerless. If Trump wins in 2020, the useful idiots will now be useless and the best that the Left can hope for is that they become a despised sub-faction within the Democratic Party that is only viable in a few select regions, sort of like how the Religious Right eventually became for the Republican Party.

The blind NPC sheep will likely abandon their past leftist convictions as they get older, just like the New Left did before them when they went from hippie to yuppie. The more devoted SJW types will likely either commit suicide or live a life of irrelevancy and failure.

Basically fucked either way. If the Dems win, they're gonna shuck off the excess Marxist and DemSoc (the two are not the same thing) influences to keep votability. If they lose, it's proof that they can't give the Dems the dub, so they're gone even then.

TBH I won't be surprised if the far-left gets violent in the event of a Trump Re-Election. I've got money that if he's reelected there will be at least two assassination attempts. Desperation makes men and women do strange things. We'll see them less as a political force and more as a violent, physical one.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Basically fucked either way. If the Dems win, they're gonna shuck off the excess Marxist and DemSoc (the two are not the same thing) influences to keep votability. If they lose, it's proof that they can't give the Dems the dub, so they're gone even then.

TBH I won't be surprised if the far-left gets violent in the event of a Trump Re-Election. I've got money that if he's reelected there will be at least two assassination attempts. Desperation makes men and women do strange things. We'll see them less as a political force and more as a violent, physical one.

True. As it is, the Far Left is already violent, as seen with Antifa.

And if the Far Left does end up successfully killing a bunch of people for political reasons, they lose their one and only counter-argument and with it, they lose any major support from the normies and the neoliberals will no longer consider them to be useful idiots, but instead as a massive liability.

f Antifa ends up killing someone, it's gonna be a lot harder for them to say "The Left never killed anyone, only the Alt-Right/Nazis have!" and any attempt to invoke Heather Heyer's death or any attacks done by right-wing spree killers will no longer be that effective.

 

[The Sauce Boss]

True. As it is, the Far Left is already violent, as seen with Antifa.

And if the Far Left does end up successfully killing a bunch of people for political reasons, they lose their one and only counter-argument and with it, they lose any major support from the normies and the neoliberals will no longer consider them to be useful idiots, but instead as a massive liability.

f Antifa ends up killing someone, it's gonna be a lot harder for them to say "The Left never killed anyone, only the Alt-Right/Nazis have!" and any attempt to invoke Heather Heyer's death or any attacks done by right-wing spree killers will no longer be that effective.

Gonna risk Powerleveling a bit here to tell about my time involved with Antifa in Portland, OR (I was homeless and they were mostly sleeping on street corners to protest some guy getting shot by a cop. It seemed like a mutually beneficial agreement, and were it not for my southern accent, I would likely have been welcomed fully into the hive.) Anyone who says Antifa isn't violent or disruptive is a damn liar. The Proud Boys et al are basically just a bunch of frats who wanna act fools, but out of the gaggle of about 20 antifa-ggots I ran into, one had a gun and most all of the others had melee weapons. A dude tried to start a fight with them at one point, and I tried to reason with the dude into getting back in his car before nastiness happened. Within three seconds of the dude taking a step to me, there were weapons drawn. These guys so want a villain to 'fight' that they'll beat anyone who gives them a reason.

 

[Unog]

Anyone who says Antifa isn't violent or disruptive is a damn liar.

That's been an open secret for a while now.

 

[TerribleIdeas™]

Or they'll just join the Greens.

I hope they're dumb enough to join the Greens, because I'd love to see the Greens saddled with violent idiots to go along with their horrifying ignorance of energy and economic policy.

True. As it is, the Far Left is already violent, as seen with Antifa.

And if the Far Left does end up successfully killing a bunch of people for political reasons, they lose their one and only counter-argument and with it, they lose any major support from the normies and the neoliberals will no longer consider them to be useful idiots, but instead as a massive liability.

f Antifa ends up killing someone, it's gonna be a lot harder for them to say "The Left never killed anyone, only the Alt-Right/Nazis have!" and any attempt to invoke Heather Heyer's death or any attacks done by right-wing spree killers will no longer be that effective.

I really despise the whole "But AntiFa hasn't KILLED anyone!", because it's not for lack of fucking trying; there's multiple instances of aggravated assault with weapons, intentionally striking the head, typical from behind, and/or while part of a mob, and the fact that they haven't killed anyone is simply a matter of fucking luck. A pack of wild nigglets essentially mugged a white dude at a county fair, and the sucker punch killed the guy, so there's no "but they haven't killed anyone!" to be argued, because they've already exceeded that level of violence, and it's a matter of time before one of their mob attacks does cause a lethal intracranial hemorrhage, or batters someone's skull in.

 

[AlexJonesGotMePregnant]

I can't wait for the 2020 version of this

 

[George Floyd Sneed]

The far left will continue to vote for Democrats. There was a time when they would have given the Greens a chance but that died in 2000. The far left doesn’t have scruples or principles so they will vote for the next globohomo neoliberalist as per the usual and lie to themselves that they’re making real changes by voting for whoever Wall Street anointed to be their guy.

 

[Sīn the Moon Daddy]

The far left will continue to vote for Democrats. There was a time when they would have given the Greens a chance but that died in 2000. The far left doesn’t have scruples or principles so they will vote for the next globohomo neoliberalist as per the usual and lie to themselves that they’re making real changes by voting for whoever Wall Street anointed to be their guy.

Essentially this. The plans have been made, and the agenda has been set. They can either play along and come to the party or they can stay home.

 

[Sīn the Moon Daddy]

AOC was a Jesuit

This is troubling news
I must consider the ramifications of this

 

[CheezzyMach]

Both parties have or are shedding their neoconservative and neoliberal platforms. As I said on the TDS thread, besides Obamacare you'd be hardpressed to find much difference between second term George W. Bush and first term Barack Obama.

But now that there is a distinct choice, between nationalist populist individualist capitalism on the right and globalist elitist collectivist socialism on the left, they are screwed.

The right is not ever going to convince them, but it doesn't matter. The right will have numbers because the middle will have to pick a side. You don't have to persuade them or compromise with them when you can just outvote them. Outvote them, implement conservative policies and meanwhile ignore their crying in the background.

The Pendulum will swing back eventually.

The Right will get drunk on power again like it did in the 80s and the Left will restructure and emerge as the "everyman" party like it was under Clinton in the 90s.