THE WORLD has the Democratic Party elite to thank, party heavies like Nancy Pelsosi and Chuck Schumer, for another Donald Trump presidency. In 2016 they chose the unpopular Hillary Clinton over the immensely popular Bernie Sanders and duly handed Donald Trump the keys to the White House. In 2024, the Democratic Party establishment, in its infinite wisdom, thought it would be an excellent idea to pick yet another corporate-approved and centrist candidate. Kamala Harris, too, was defeated by Trump.
But the rise of Donald Trump did not happen overnight. He owes much of his success to the long decay of the Democratic Party over the past fifty years. While still professing to be loyal to working class interests, it has become a party driven by corporate interests and enslaved to the funding that the corporate sector provides for its elections campaigns. It was deeply ironic, but indicative of the Democratic Party's conservative mindset, that a defeated Kamala Harris boasted about the amount of money her election campaign had raised.
The Democratic Party establishment has dug a big hole for the party and, in its present state, is clearly incapable of climbing out of it. While many supporters and former supporters are calling for generational change within the Democratic Party, in December the party apparatchiks moved to prevent the immensely popular Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from winning the race to head the party's pivotal House Oversight and Accountability Committee. That job was given to 74-year-old Jerry Connolly whose main 'qualification' is that he won't rock the boat and will do what he's told. Even Donald Trump, who is shrewder than he looks, expressed his surprise that AOC had not been appointed.
Said Joseph Geevarghese the executive director for the progressive campaign group Our Revolution: 'AOC is one of the most popular politicians among young people in the United States. Why would we not give her the first chair to hold Trump and the oligarchs accountable? I would argue it’s because I’m not sure the Democratic establishment wants to do that. I don’t think they want a full-throated populist anti-establishment, anti-corporate critique.'
It's clear that the Democratic Party establishment fear losing control over the party more than they fear Donald Trump. But the mood for change is growing, and much of that momentum is gathering around AOC. Already there is talk that AOC is the best candidate to win the presidency back in 2028. Democratic congressman Jeremy Raskin said last week:
'If people have hard feelings, get over it, guys. We lost. We got our asses kicked. Let’s get on the offensive here. If you’re a coach — and I coached some baseball for a while — you put your best players out there when you need ’em. This is our best player. Why the hell’s AOC sitting on the bench? Get her off the bench. Get her in the game.'
If AOC does choose to enter the race for the Democratic Party presidential election, she will spark a similar nationwide movement that propelled Bernie Sanders in 2016. Although there is a lot of water to run under the bridge between now and then, the rise of AOC could prove to be irresistible.
Meantime AOC, who, despite reservations, put her head down and campaigned for Kamala Harris, has fired her opening salvo at the Trump presidency. In a video post to Instagram on Monday, she warned that 'this is what 21st century fascism looks like' and that the United States was 'on the eve of an authoritarian administration'.
She also, much to the ire of Trump supporters, described Trump as a rapist: 'All these journalists are like, ‘Congresswoman, are you going to the inauguration, Congresswoman, are you going to inauguration, are you going to the inauguration?' Let me make myself clear: I don’t celebrate rapists, so no, I’m not going to the inauguration.'
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