AOC knocks Democratic colleagues for privately raising concerns about Biden: ‘That’s bulls–t!’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gave an impassioned defense Thursday of President Biden’s electoral prospects against former President Donald Trump — slamming Democratic lawmakers for privately raising concerns about his candidacy and accusing them of underestimating him.
“What I see right now, and I want you all to know, is that over the last several weeks, there have been lots of Democrats who have been giving little anonymous quotes to the press,” the New York Democrat said in a nearly one hour-long Instagram Live post.
“I’m not here to knock the press on it, I’m here to knock my colleagues on it. Because to me, I think that’s and I’m sorry — I’m going to say it because it’s after midnight — that’s bulls–t,” Ocasio-Cortez argued.
She clarified that her frustration wasn’t with those “who have made a public statement and put their name on it.”
“I’m talking about people who are too scared to say what they want to say in public, but somehow not afraid to say what they want to say to a journalist so long as they promise not to use their name,” she said.
“That’s a bunch of horsesh*t!” she fumed.
The 14th District representative went on to defend keeping Biden, 81, at the top of the Democratic ticket despite his disastrous debate performance against Trump, 78, floundering polling numbers and apparent mental decline.
“People underestimate Biden’s performance. I think that is how he became president, is through a lot of people underestimating his performance with demographics that are not traditionally valued,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think that people see where he’s weak. They don’t often see where he’s strong and just electorally, purely electorally.”
“Joe Biden kind of like stomps with older people, like electorally, which is one of the strongest and most consistent electorates, and it’s actually a hard electorate for Democrats to win,” she explained. “You know, those are not people that are on Twitter, but they vote more consistently than almost any other bracket.”
The congresswoman also suggested that Republicans could raise legal challenges related to ballot access if Biden were to be replaced so late in the process.
Ocasio-Cortez further warned that Democrats are unlikely to unite around Vice President Kamala Harris if Biden were to drop out of the race.
“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave that Kamala, that they will support Kamala, Vice President Harris, you would be mistaken,” she said. “A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket.”
“I’m here to tell you that a huge amount of the donor class, and a huge amount of these elites, and a huge amount of these folks in these rooms that I see that are pushing for President Biden to not be the nominee, also are not interested in seeing the vice president being the nominee,” the congresswoman claimed.
“Will they win out on that? I don’t know. But I am here to tell you, do not take that for granted,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
Three Democratic senators and more than two dozen House Democrats have called on Biden to end his re-election bid.