Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has decided she said too much during “Woke 1” and is trying to put distance between herself and the positions that made her famous. She’s not going to be able to do it. The internet is forever, and the receipts are comprehensive.
Let’s document what she’s now running away from.
She called defunding the police not a metaphor but a mandate: “Defunding police means defunding police. It does not mean budget tricks or funny math. The fight to defund policing continues.” That was summer 2020. She also blasted New York City for only cutting the NYPD by $1 billion — apparently it wasn’t enough.
She called for abolishing prisons. Her exact words: “I want to abolish our carceral system that’s designed to trap Black and brown men.” She posted that some marginalized groups “have no choice but to riot.”
She called for a “real conversation about decarceration & prison abolition in this country.” She described the American justice system as “a class enforcement system” rather than a justice system.
She compared white supremacy to a virus that exists on a “larger scale” and “lays dormant” — a framing that effectively accuses every American who hasn’t been “completely overcome” of harboring the disease. And she cheered the expansion of non-binary gender recognition, calling it celebrating “the full spectrum of humanity.”
None of this started in 2020. None of it was COVID fever. These were her stated, documented, on-the-record positions before the pandemic existed. Axios isn’t buying the moderation pivot. The voters who need to believe it in a statewide or national race — the ones who don’t live in New York’s 14th Congressional District — certainly aren’t.
The fundamental problem with AOC’s rebranding isn’t that it’s cynical, though it is. It’s that it’s impossible. She can’t explain away “defunding police means defunding police” with a smile and a shrug. She can’t walk back prison abolition with a carefully worded interview. Every clip, every tweet, every appearance where she cheered on ideas that most Americans find alarming is still out there — and the moment she steps outside NY-14 and into a real race, every one of them will be in every ad.
The tell is left-wing America hater Hasan Piker. If AOC were genuinely moderating, the first thing she’d do is publicly and repeatedly denounce the man who backed a candidate whose chief surrogate praised Mao and celebrated Hamas. She hasn’t. She won’t. Because she needs that coalition. And let’s face it – that’s really who she is anyway.
Sandy Cortez the NYC bartender became AOC the socialist icon on a very specific set of beliefs. She can try to erase them. But they’re documented. They’re dated. And they’re going to follow her all the way to 2028 — assuming Republicans and voters are paying attention. And they are.
