‘A betrayal of progressive interests’

WASHINGTON – Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew the ire of some of her fellow progressives over the weekend after endorsing President Biden’s 2024 bid for re-election.

The 33-year-old New York lawmaker was asked during an interview with the liberal podcast “Pod Save America” if she would be supporting Biden or one of his two challengers – Marianne Williamson and Robert Kennedy Jr. – for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.

“I think he’s done quite well given the limitations that we have,” the Democratic socialist said on the podcast Thursday, noting that “given that field” of candidates, she would support the president’s reelection bid.

“I do think that there are ebbs and flows, as there are in any presidency,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“There are areas that I think were quite strong when [Biden] came right out of the gate with the American Rescue Plan and of course the Inflation Reduction Act was a massive step in terms of our climate agenda,” she added.

The congresswoman acknowledged that “there are also areas that I think could have gone better” in the Biden presidency so far, but she later blamed problems on “major structural issues” that “start with the [Democrat-controlled] United States Senate.”

The comments came as a shock to leftists on Twitter who said they felt betrayed by AOC, a prior diehard Bernie Sanders supporter and one of the most liberal members of Congress.

Former Sanders campaign press secretary Briahna Joy Gray said that the “Squad” leader “endorsing Joe Biden now is a betrayal of progressive interests.”

“It was true for Bernie Sanders’ endorsement & its true of AOC (sic),” Gray wrote on Twitter. “*Most* Democrats don’t want Biden to run. Bernie and AOC are tragically out of step w/ the movement & the moment.”

“AOC once said in a normal country, she and Biden wouldn’t be in the same party. Maybe that was once true. Not anymore,” she added.

Gray further argued that “at the very least,” progressive lawmakers “should be asking for commitments in exchange for their endorsement.”

“Even better, they should be using the Marianne/RFK campaigns to highlight the failures of Biden & the Dems on Ukraine, healthcare, & more,” she said.

Gray’s remark appeared to resonate with some in the Democratic party, who agreed with the former corporate attorney and political commentator.

“The Squad are careerist … more interested in securing their congressional sinecures for life, rather than taking on the establishment they were elected to fight,” wrote one Twitter user. “Biden is bad news. He’s been an absolute disaster for the US.”

Others alleged the congresswoman’s abandonment of her prior fire for the Sanders campaign indicated that she had been “paid off” by more moderate Democrats to endorse Biden.

“I hope [AOC] got a very juicy payoff,” a Twitter user wrote.

“It can’t be that surprising to learn your bartender works for tips,” wrote another, in apparent reference to AOC’s prior work in restaurants.

Others, however, chastised Gray for questioning why the left would endorse Biden so early, arguing that an endorsement not made for the incumbent is a vote for former President Donald Trump, 77, who has consistently led in the polls against his Republican challengers.

“It may be a ‘betrayal of progressive interests,’ but right now that doesn’t matter. Defeating Trumpism is the only thing that matters,” political podcaster Joe Walsh replied on Twitter.

“Right now, defending democracy is way, way more important than your progressive interests or my conservative interests.”