US "The Squad" Megathread - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Talib Derangement Syndrome

I honestly only know about American politics from what I read on the Internet but since we all love shitting on leftists I figured we'd get a kick out of this. Also it's trending on Twitter so you know it's important.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...irect=on&noredirect=on&utm_term=.960552c9ba53

NEW YORK — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old political novice running on a low budget and an unabashedly liberal platform, upset longtime U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley on Tuesday in the Democratic congressional primary in New York.

The surprise victory by the community organizer in a district that includes parts of the Bronx and Queens came after an energetic, grassroots campaign that mustered more than enough support in a low-turnout race that many had expected to be an easy win for Crowley, a member of the Democratic House leadership.

“The community is ready for a movement of economic and social justice. That is what we tried to deliver,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who has never held elected office and whose candidacy attracted only modest media attention.

She told The Associated Press after her victory that she didn’t have enough money to do polling in the race, but felt in her gut that her message had a chance to connect.

“I live in this community. I organized in this community. I felt the absence of the incumbent. I knew he didn’t have a strong presence,” she said.

Crowley has been in Congress since 1999 and hadn’t faced an opponent in a primary election since 2004, when Ocasio-Cortez was just a teenager. He was considered a candidate to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the majority.

“It’s not about me,” Crowley, 56, told his supporters at a campaign party following his loss. “It’s about America. I want nothing but the best for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I want her to be victorious.”

He later played guitar with a band at the election night gathering, and dedicated the first song, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” to Ocasio-Cortez.

Crowley represents New York’s 14th Congressional District, where he is also the leader of the Queens Democratic party.

Ocasio-Cortez was outspent by an 18-1 margin during her race but won the endorsement of some influential groups on the party’s far left, including MoveOn, as well as the actress Cynthia Nixon, who is running for governor. She defeated Crowley by 15 percentage points.

Born in the Bronx to a mother from Puerto Rico and a father who died in 2008, Ocasio-Cortez said she decided to challenge Crowley to push a more progressive stance on economic and other issues.

She attended Boston University, where she earned degrees in economics and international relations, and also spent time working in the office of the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

After graduating, she returned to the Bronx where she became a community organizer. In the 2016 presidential campaign she worked for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Among her issues is expanding the Medicare program to people of all ages and abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. She recently went to Tornillo, Texas, to protest against policies that have separated parents from their children at the southern U.S. border.

Ocasio-Cortez gained some internet attention for a campaign video called “The Courage to Change,” a two-minute spot for which she wrote the script and featured footage from her own home.

Crowley is chair of the House Democratic Caucus, the fourth-highest ranking position in Democratic leadership in that chamber of Congress.

His loss drew the attention of President Donald Trump.

“Wow! Big Trump Hater Congressman Joe Crowley, who many expected was going to take Nancy Pelosi’s place, just LOST his primary election. In other words, he’s out! That is a big one that nobody saw happening. Perhaps he should have been nicer, and more respectful, to his President!” he tweeted.

The Republican candidate for the office, Anthony Pappas, is running unopposed and had no primary. Pappas teaches economics at St. John’s University.

She was a Bernie campaigner, is supported by BLM, and wants to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Also this was in a solid-blue Congressional District so you know she's a shoo-in for next Congress.

But hey, we did get to see Trump laugh at Crowley on Twitter.

 

[Fcret]

The part where someone in a higher position is responsible for the idiotic behavior of someone lower rank, even though they're obviously not breaking any rules by being utter bellends - correct me if they actually are, though, because that just begs the question: Why not kick them out? Exactly how would Pelosi go about "keeping them in line?" Because it seems to me that she doesn't have any power over them.

Pelosi is an elder god-tier politician who is so high up in the democratic party that she might be considered unofficially to be 'running' it. As such she has access to the levers of power in the party. The fact that she hasn't sanctioned any members of "the squad" despite them hurting the democratic brand means one of two things:

1) She doesn't have the necessary pull to do anything to them. This means she has essentially lost control of the party and is therefore weak.

2) She's scared to do anything to them because she feels like the public backlash will be too great. This means she has lost legitimacy as a party leader and is therefore weak.

No matter how you slice it, this whole debacle makes Pelosi look weak and ineffectual.

 

[Kamov Ka-52]

Crack theory: instead of directly attacking the Squad and their supporters and incur the wrath of the progressive mob, establishment Dems like Pelosi are purposely letting them soil themselves in full view of the public to let the progressive scourge on the Democratic Party burn itself out

Fucking this but without any irony, "never interfere with your enemy when they are making mistakes" is axiomatic in PR and politics. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pelosi et al. know how to play the game. Regardless of how you feel about them personally or on policy issues, they know how to politic well and they wouldn't have reached party leadership positions or stay in office as long as they had if they didn't.

Trying to tard wrangle "The Squad" (Christ typing that made me cringe) would be a mistake, because it gives the progressive wing things to REEEEEEEEEEEEEE about. If utilized correctly "The Squad" gives the progressives some ultimately ineffectual darlings to tout to the world and figureheads for the moderate establishment types to make a token effort to embrace for optics. Further, the progressives throwing their weight behind them is good for the establishment, as they're all complete exceptional individuals who stand no chance of rising above their station as the "designated token empowered progressive POC millenial wahmen" both in the context of the DNC's internal politics or in the broader electoral sense. As such, not tard wrangling, and at least nominally supporting, them undermines any attempts by the progressive wing to agitate for more substantial changes in the internal structure of the DNC/DCCC. Leaving them to their own devices while giving lip service to the idea that they are the "future" of the party, also denies them the opportunity to whine about obstructionism from the old guard. Thus their ability to end run the party infrastructure and appeal to the more liberal parts of the base about how evil the establishment is comprised.

They make a good negotiating tool for old guard Democrats with Republicans too. Pelosi & co. can point to them and sa: hey, we may talk a lot of shit to each other, and you may not like us, but at least we're willing to work with you and negotiate. At the end of the day, it's far better to keep us around rather than deal with those little shits who know fuck all about life on The Hill, right? That in mind, this budget line-item/amendment/bill is really important to my district. So y'know, help a colleague out a bit, I'll return the favor, Hell, I'll help you quietly kill AOC's retarded bill with amendments in subcommittee too. This is tacit quid-pro-quo allows the establishment/moderates to talk a big game for their constituents and, more importantly, allows them to bring back plenty of budgetary turkeys for their districts, and gives them projects to point to when a (competent) Brianna Wu with a half-way decent campaign manager tries to carpet bag into their district. Whereas the progressives will be the proverbial runts sucking the hind tit, with none of their objectives accomplished, and without projects for their districts, which, wouldn't you know it, tends to not endear legislators to voters. By sheer coincidence, horror of horrors, it just happens makes them easier to get out off office too! Wouldn't that be a shame.

Finally, having people like the current batch of ascendant progressives, assuming they continue to flail around like exceptional individuals and fail to accomplish anything around, makes moderate or establishment aligned candidates more attractive to PACs in competitive statewide/national primaries. At the end of the day, for all the virtue signaling NGOs, companies, and big money donors do, they don't really care who's in office, they just want to see legislation that benefits them passed and for their interests to be represented. With that in mind, who would you give your millions to? A bunch of retards with a dismal legislative record, or someone who is actually capable compromise and can probably get you at least some of what you want?

If the progressives were smart they'd take the hint, pretend to be cowed, bide their time and sharpen their knives. Instead they're impatient speds who've decided to go for the throat immediately against people with literally decades more experience than them and to secure their positions.

 

[TowinKarz]

I'm not saying they're rotten in the same way but this whole shit is cyclical. One of the parties rises up, another one becomes pseudo-counter-culture, the latter slowly regains relevance and the roles flip. All that sane people can really so is minimize damage.

True, but anyone arguing that right now in the hopes of turning back the shifting winds of political power is doomed to fail.

The fact the Republicans/conservatives/populists will eventually, no matter how cautious, go too far and people will reject them for the other side does not, however, change the fact that at present, further leftism will not solve the issues the nation faces in a way the population wants.

The fact there will inevitably be a shift back to you in the future won't save you today when people want an end to illegal immigration and all the crime/corruption/spending waste that comes with it, and you're proposing the solution is to decriminalize border jumping in the first place....

So the argument is less about how the Dems are horrible boogeymen with no morals or scruples, but rather, too dumb to notice that this IS one of those cyclical changes and meet it in a way where they may retain some bi-partisan power, instead of losing vast chunks of it for a long time....

 

[ObeseScreamingBlackMan]

Tired old white lady cant deal with the niggas moving into her neighborhood and stomping on her flowerbeds, more at 11.

 

[queue-anon]

Omar is facing an uncomfortable inquiry into a marriage that may have been a fake arranged citizenship scam and the possbility the other party may have been her very own brother. Some Muslims align themselves along clan kinship so their definition of family is looser than ours meaning Omar may not be her actually family name but used to claim familial status so it could actually not be her real surname. I think she's desperately trying to rally support for her claims of Islamophobia to discredit any investigations into her shady past.

Brother or not, that marriage debacle is hilarious.

For those who don't know:

Omar "married" her current husband in a religious ceremony. They "divorced" a year before she legally married second husband. Those two "divorced" (again, according to their religion, but not under the law) after two years (the minimum immigration requires for the non-citizen spouse to get a green card last I heard). She stays legally married to the guy while she's boinking the first husband. She even gave birth to a child. Finally, when it looks like shit's going to hit the fan, she legally divorces second husband and legally marries current husband.

I guess this shows that Muslims don't care about civil marriage, but, she apparently didn't even get a religious marriage to current husband while they were shacking up for the second time.

 

[Chadley Dickinson]

Brother or not, that marriage debacle is hilarious.

For those who don't know:

Omar "married" her current husband in a religious ceremony. They "divorced" a year before she legally married second husband. Those two "divorced" (again, according to their religion, but not under the law) after two years (the minimum immigration requires for the non-citizen spouse to get a green card last I heard). She stays legally married to the guy while she's boinking the first husband. She even gave birth to a child. Finally, when it looks like shit's going to hit the fan, she legally divorces second husband and legally marries current husband.

I guess this shows that Muslims don't care about civil marriage, but, she apparently didn't even get a religious marriage to current husband while they were shacking up for the second time.

Perhaps the lesson here should be not push for the closets of other politicians to be forced open while you still have recent skeletons in your own closet. But who am I kidding, the Gang of Four are on the right side of history so this shit doesn't matter. AOC can engage in mealy mouthed rationalization for voting for a congressional COLA while talking so much about how she wants to work for the average person, Omar can engage in crypto anti-Semitism and possibly marry her brother in an immigration scam and then speak out about how Trump is Islamophobic (a fucking word I absolutely hate, and I hate that the MB has been so successful with this little piece of propaganda) etc.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

My father and I made a bet with each other last week: Which member of "The Squad" is going to become a sacrificial lamb for the Dems to save face?

My dad was dead set on Omar becoming that lamb. I said it was going to be AOC because of her fighting with Pelosi, her inability to shut up, and ultimately because Omar is a Muslim woman of color-- the Gold Medal of the Oppression Olympics for the left, if you will.

Welp. I think I'm going to owe my dad some $$$.

Also, "Send her back." Her past is suggesting she may not even be in this country legally ... Which fucking blows my mind, given how easily she made it into our Government. Omar is far more dangerous than AOC. No question.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

The Millennial Left Is Tired of Waiting

Saikat Chakrabarti, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, is working to build a generational movement.

www.theatlantic.com

If they had any idea what the Millennial Right has in store for them they'd find the nearest bunker and never come out.

 

[Jigglyjogglers]

Also, "Send her back." Her past is suggesting she may not even be in this country legally ... Which fucking blows my mind, given how easily she made it into our Government. Omar is far more dangerous than AOC. No question.

Kinda scary realizing that banks do more thorough background checks on their phone monkeys than the government supposedly does about the people running for office, idn'it?

 

[Sīn the Moon Daddy]

Kinda scary realizing that banks do more thorough background checks on their phone monkeys than the government supposedly does about the people running for office, idn'it?

I suppose immigration statuses could start coming up if the Squad ever does something that's off script.

 

[Br'er Rabbit]

If utilized correctly "The Squad" could serve as an asset to attempts by the establishment of the party to interact and negotiate with Republicans. "The Squad" gives the progressives some darlings to tout to the world, and a figurehead for the moderate establishment types to make a token effort to embrace for optics.

I've never understood where the idea that the US has some huge vein of untapped socialism comes from. Support for things like medicare-for-all tank when you go into more detail than "do you like free shit?"
Given that Pelosi was actively trying to shuffle them around to different committees so they'd stay the fuck out of the spotlight, and how Trump seems keen on dragging them right back under it, i'm guessing they both see how poisonous they are for swing districts. Unfortunately for Pelosi, there's no easy way to deal with the problem without alienating a small but decisive section of her voting base, especially after the Bernie/Clinton shitshow.

 

[Jigglyjogglers]

I suppose immigration statuses could start coming up if the Squad ever does something that's off script.

Risky, considering how far left the party's gone on the whole issue. The loudest and shriekiest part of their voter base, which is the only part they seem to listen to, would probably start demanding that "undocumented immigrants" be allowed to run for every elected office. A completely untenable proposal but it would further tank the Dems' ratings.

 

[Lensherr]

In resurfaced interview, Ilhan Omar answers question on 'jihadist terrorism' by saying Americans should be 'more fearful of white men'
By Nick Givas | Fox News

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Rep. Omar says racism has always been a part of President Trump
Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar addresses her ongoing feud with the president at the Muslim Collective for Equitable Democracy event; Mark Meredith reports from the conference.
In a resurfaced interview from 2018, anti-Trump Democrat Ilhan Omar responded to a question about the "quote-unquote legitimate fears" some people have of "jihadist terrorism," by saying Americans should be "more fearful of white men."
In the interview, Al Jazeera host Medhi Hasan said some Americans feel justified in fearing Islam, not out of hate but for their own safety, before listing a number of radicalIslamic terror attacks. Omar dismissed this suggestion immediately and laid the blame on white males instead, calling for the profiling and monitoring of caucasian men.
"I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country," she replied.
"And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe -- Americans safe inside of this country -- we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men."
GIULINI SLAMS REP. OMAR'S 9/11 COMMENTS: 'YOU CAN'T BE MORE ANTI-AMERICAN THAN THAT'

This isn't the first time Omar has been criticized for making controversial statements with regard to Islam.
She has been publicly challenged on quotes about Al Queda and the 9/11 terror attacks, most specifically when she appeared at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser earlier this year and described the carnage from September 11th as, "some people did something."
"CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties," she said.
Omar also recently was involved in a public Twitter spat with President Trump over her attitude towards America, and Trump told reporters Omar should leave the U.S. if she's unhappy with how the country operates.
Video
"If somebody has a problem with our country, if somebody doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave," he told reporters earlier this month.
Trump also addressed the issue at his North Carolina political rally on July 17 and claimed Omar laughed about Americans being afraid of Al Qaeda.
CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Omar minimized the Sept. 11 attacks on our homeland, saying 'some people did something,'" Trump said "'Some people did something?' Yeah, some people did something, alright. She pleaded for compassion for ISIS recruits attempting to join the terrorist organization. She was looking for compassion.
"Omar laughed that Americans speak of Al Qaeda in a menacing tone, and remarked that, 'You don't say 'America' with this intensity. You say 'Al Qaeda,' makes you proud. Al Qaeda! Makes you proud. You don't speak that way about America.'"

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/media/ilhan-omar-interview-2018-fearful-white-men-islam

 

[Chaos Theorist]

And here we go!

 

[StarkRavingMad]

Risky, considering how far left the party's gone on the whole issue. The loudest and shriekiest part of their voter base, which is the only part they seem to listen to, would probably start demanding that "undocumented immigrants" be allowed to run for every elected office. A completely untenable proposal but it would further tank the Dems' ratings.

I don't doubt that they are that exceptional to run with that. They will lose big if they do that, too.

God damn. The absolute state of the Democrat Party. They are appealing to a loud and rabid minority. Most of the nation believes that we need immigration laws and that they need to be enforced.

Want to completely lose the moderate vote, Dems? Prop up Omar and screech at the American public about how "undocumented immigrants" are not only above the law and how our tax dollars should pay for THEIR "free shit," but how they should be able to hold office, too!

"Bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for them."

 

[wylfım]

Inshallah, she will continue to be brave in the struggle against the infidels.
Ilhan Omar Akhbar!

 

[Rand /pol/]

She's 100% right though. Whites are subhuman animals that should be killed on sight.

 

[Exigent Circumcisions]

You really can't expect much out of a Somalian brother-fucker.

 

[The Last Stand]

And that's how you lose the White Man vote.

 

[Y2K Baby]

Organized international terrorist networks with funding from several countries vs. One virgin with rage.

White people are literally sexless Super Sayian.