When asked by reporters if Schumer should remain the minority leader, Ocasio-Cortez responded: "I think what is so important for folks to understand is that this problem is bigger than one person. And it actually is bigger than the minority leader in the Senate. You had eight Senate Democrats who coordinated…their own votes on this as well as you have two retiring members, many of them who are also up in several cycles from now, with the hope that people are going to forget this moment
The New York lawmaker added, “A leader is a reflection of the party, and Senate Democrats have selected their leadership to represent them. And so, the question needs to be bigger than just one person. We have several Senate primaries this cycle—I know I’m being asked about New York, that is years from now—I have to remind my own constituents because they think that this election is this year. We actually do have Senate elections this year, and my hope is that people across this country actually participate in their primary elections and selecting their leadership.”
Schumer’s leadership has come under fire following a pivotal Senate vote in which eight Democrats joined Republicans to end the government shutdown, defying his recommendations. Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, was among those openly stating, “Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced.”
Weird how the comments are defending AOC here. We can agree that she maybe should tread lightly so as not to fall out of favour with the party, but that doesn’t take from the fact that she gave a spineless response here and should be gunning to primary Schumer
She basically said “schumer is a symptom, the real problem is the party itself, we need to primary people and get them out.” Not sure how that’s spineless.
She should say yes Shumer should live then talk about how the problem is deeper
VOTERS ARE ALREADY AWARE THE PARTY IS PROBLEMATIC.
They don’t need it repeated for the umpteenth time. She needs to start making more cutthroat statements and quit tap dancing around the conversation.
If she’s going to run for his position, she’s not gonna tip her hand.
Idk, while it’s not explicit as I’d hoped she did just imply that a good chunk of Democratic senators are rotten sellouts.
It’s all about framing. She could’ve and should’ve been more assertive about it. While it’s okay to point out the problem is bigger than the senate minority leader, she nevertheless should be about the matter. Millions of Americans will not be able to afford health insurance anymore. This isn’t the time for pragmatism; everyone is angry, and her words should echo that anger. People want action and assertive language is as close to action other than action itself.
It’s not even like it’s scapegoating, Schumer has been incompetent for a while now, and this should be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.
What’s weird to me is the sudden uptick in narratives by real “leftists” trying to paint Sanders and AOC as “moderates at best” as people like Stephen Miller continue to claim AOC and Sanders are essentially radical jihadists, and the media claims the Democratic party is completely divided and turning on Schumer. Yet when you actually read what Sanders and AOC have to say, they’ve both given level headed responses that this is a much bigger problem than just Schumer.
Meanwhile, it’s implied by the media that everyone in the democratic party is on board with Ro Kahnna’s calls for Schumer to immediately resign (although it’s not clear why Democrats would be demanding this sudden resignation without some one in mind to take his place. Obviously it can’t be AOC since she’s not even in the Senate as of now).
The media and even some of the “real leftists” who argue incessantly that AOC and Sanders are now moderates, will also often praise Kahnna as a “progressive” who has the balls to finally stand up for Americans.
Yet nobody (the “real lefties”®️ or the media) ever wants to mention that Ro Kahnna is funded by Peter Thiel and David Sacks, or that as of October, he still held stock in Palantir (just like Stephen Miller, MTG, and several other Republicans). What an odd coincidence.
If Jefferies gave that same response everyone would assume he wasn’t going to do anything. People aren’t listening to what she’s saying, they’re just looking at who its coming from and forming their opinions from there.
She has to choose between primarying Schumer or running for president in 2028. The former may be more realistic but it’s certainly not an easy decision.