Looking at an AOC Endorsement — Who needs it?
We’re going to look over one of the most anticipated endorsements of the 2020 Democratic Primary, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We’ll look at Andrew Yang, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard. We will deliberately ignore Creepy Joe Biden.
What would an endorsement from AOC mean to these candidates? AOC has become a power house of marketing, ideas, openness, and moral standing. Unseating Jim Crowley, a multi-decade representative and 3rd most powerful Democrat in the House without the help of big money. Powered by her constituents small dollar donations and putting in the footwork. She’s shown herself to be a social media ninja with 4.4 Million Twitter followers she is a force to reckoned with and an endorsement from her could go a long way
Bernie Sanders has 100% name recognition. Everyone knows who he is and what he stands for. He is in line with her policies like Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, and a jobs guarantee program. One of the great things about Bernie is you know where he stands. When asked if he wanted to get rid of private insurance his response was clear and concise, “You’re damn right!” AOC and Bernie have been on the same side of the issues for as long as she has been involved in politics. One could surmise that he was the flame that set her on fire. They have campaigned together for other progressives and have had zero public disagreements. According to the Washington Examiner “ She said it will take ‘a while’ to decide. She is considering Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren. It would seem as though Bernie would be her top pick, but the power and change that Elizabeth Warren has already shown and established puts a bit of a damper on Bernie being the shoo in for the coveted AOC endorsement. Bernie needs the endorsement to solidify his place as the head of the progressive movement because the next president will undoubtedly be the head and if the Princess of Progressives supports someone else it will be a major blow, and could be the cause of him dropping out.
Elizabeth Warren has been a laser guided wrecking ball aimed directly and big banks and big tech. Her policies are heavy with mass appeal and is “looking to even the playing” for hard working Americans. She speaks her mind and has teamed up with AOC attacking the credit card industry. Having recently had lunch the two share a penchant for rattling Wall Street. The left hasn’t had many groups of people afraid of them but Elizabeth Warren shakes Wall Street. They dismiss AOC, but combined it can be a whirlwind of destruction and it will be enough to push Warren into the lead if she’s not already by the time AOC decides to endorse. Senator Warren doesn’t need the endorsement from the freshman congresswoman in order to pull off this win, but it sure as hell won’t hurt her either.
Tulsi Gabbard is barely registering in the national polls but has enough individual donations to make it onto the debate stage. The Twitterverse seems to like Tulsi Gabbard, but her platform seems focused on foreign policy, which is great, but it seems that people want to put her in as Vice President, regardless of who they want as president. She seems to be lacking in exposure and would absolutely need an endorsement from AOC in order to win the primary. However, she has a mass appeal and I don’t think her goal is to be president, I think she wants to make herself known as a viable cabinet position, maybe Secretary of State? People love that idea and therefore, I don’t think Tulsi will get the AOC endorsement.
Last but not least, there’s Andrew Yang. He calls himself a progressive but doesn’t want a $15 minimum wage. Considers himself a democrat but wants to eliminate close to $600 Billion dollars from welfare programs and gradually phase them out. He abhors the idea of a jobs guarantee. He doesn’t want to tax the income of the people, and he doesn’t hate billionaires. I think it would be safe to say that this man is NOT going to get the endorsement of the progressive’s darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Which, for the campaign he is running, it wouldn’t really help him. Sure, there are going to be a significant amount of people that will be swayed by her endorsement but there will be just as many turned away. Andrew Yang doesn’t need her endorsement in order to win the primary or the general election as his support is coming from a cross-section of America and across the political spectrum. He has everyone from the alt-Right to the Progressive left signing on to his campaign and joining his online army known as the #YangGang. As the first person to qualify for the debates, and coming from virtually nowhere he really is the man to beat. And if AOC and Bernie Sanders wants to upend in the world as we know it, for better or for worse, they’re going to have to convince the world that the Freedom Dividend isn’t as good as half of their policies, then contend with the other 100+ policies of Andrew Yang. And all Andrew Yang has to do, is capitalize on the 8% chance he stands next to Creepy Joe Biden and people start to google, “Asian man standing next to Joe Biden”.
