The Way Forward

Exchange between John Steward and AOC:

AOC: I believe that we need to be a party of brawlers for the working class.

JS: There you go.

AOC: And we have turned into a party that caters to all those people who call themselves upper middle class, but they're actually like, kind of wealthy.

JS: You're talking about me now, aren't you?

No. No, you're not middle class at all!

JS: No, I meant wealthy, that's what I meant.

AOC: We've been chasing this affluent group and making all of these little concessions and hoping that working people don't notice.

JS: How does that manifest? If you could give us an example of what those concessions might look like, because in my mind, look one of the biggest. Issues in in my mind is over the last 40 or 50 years, labor has been devalued, and capital has been elevated. So investment and finance is king and labor is in many ways devalued. So in what way have you seen those kinds of moves made?

AOC: Yeah, I mean, I think the most famous one that comes to mind. Is Kirsten Synema doing her little curtsy when she voted down the $15 minimum wage? But it wasn't just her that was the most public expression of it, but there were a bunch of Democrats in the Senate behind her that also voted it down. People are struggling so much right now. 15 bucks an hour is nothing. The day that the news came out that I got assigned to Energy and Commerce, my staff's e-mail boxes blew up with lobbyists. Just tons of lobbyists just flooding our emails. And it is literally because of this assignment that I got.

JS: Was it like, hey, what's up, congresswoman? Just checking in.

AOC: It's very like, hello, fellow kids. Like, ohh, I was at, I was at the Bernie rally like back in the day, Like, I'd love to chat. I don't take a dime of lobbyist money. Because I am afforded that independence, because everyday people support me, I don't have to. I'm under no pressure or obligation to take a single one of these meetings, not one.

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