During the War in Iraq, I was an avid viewer of Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” show on MSNBC. Keith was rightfully calling out Bush on the atrocities at the time, and would often have guests on to talk about the quagmire the war quickly became.
One of those guests was a US Congressman from Vermont. This young man, who was one of few to vote against the war, was bandying about all these crazy ideas we could accomplish if we ended the war. This gentleman intrigued me. At this point in my life I was very hesitant of politicians and what propaganda gifts they may come bearing. Today, I’m just a flat out pessimist. But I digress.
What he was saying made sense. It didn’t sound like the usual pandering politicians do on these shows. And he kept coming back on Keith’s show for various reasons. Once it was for the free medical services organizers were doing for the New Orleans area, where people could come to the Superdome and get treated for free. He was back on when the Abu Ghraib prison torture story broke decrying the Bush and Cheney policies. And every time he was on that show, he made total sense to me.
So then this guy runs for President. “Holy crap! That dude on Keith’s show is running for President?” I said as he made is announcement in front of a handful of people. He fought against incredible odds and came oh so close to the brass ring, but failed in the end. He would do so again four years later. In each of those defeats, he pleaded with his supporters to give their vote to his opponent. In those moments for me and other people still reeling from crushing disappointment, it was an utter kick in the teeth.
This man had a protégé of sorts in the form of a fiery young woman from the Bronx. She, in turn, inspired other progressive candidates to run. All disavowed corporate donations to their campaigns. All were powerful people in their spirit and struggles. They inspired more people to vote than ever before. Maybe, just maybe, our progressive Justice League had arrived.
Then, COVID-19 hit. By this time, the country was already in an economic catastrophe. Poor wages, medical bankruptcies, evictions…all that was raging well before the pandemic. COVID exposed all of the greed and fear and hatred that is stitched into the American fabric.
Forcing businesses to close but not giving them anything to last the duration
Telling people to stay home, but giving them crumbs to live on
Deceiving the public about masks and safety procedures
Landlords ignoring eviction moratoriums
More and more homeless on the streets
Then we get to Jimmy Dore, Justin Jackson and AOC and #ForceTheVote in which people wanted The Squad to hold their vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House in exchange for a guaranteed floor vote for Medicare for All. The Democrats’ single digit majority in the House meant The Squad and others could band together and vote ‘no’ to delay Pelosi’s election. At the time, most thought even if it didn’t get concessions, it definitely would have gotten major MSM publicity. “Somebody is threatening Queen Nancy’s throne? Laws, my pearls!” BOOM, all over Shitlib TV. This public display of strength not only shows the base you are doing something, ANYTHING, seen as fighting for them, it also emboldens future candidates who know they will be joining an army of progressive fighters. Optics matter. This needed to be seen.
Force the Vote didn’t cause a divide in the left…it exposed an already existing one. The TL;DR basically is that you have three factions:
One faction that has various degrees of anger and disappointment towards The Squad and regards them a sellouts
One faction that is disappointed with them, but still think of them as allies
One faction that is socially liberal but very fiscally conservative and is hated by the other two factions but are oblivious to this fact
Now to the present. Bernie, AOC and the Squad, the ones who were going to bring a “ruckus” and “revolution”, quickly and quietly began to tell us to vote for Joe. Then they said don’t criticize Joe because Bad Man Orange yada yada yada. They said, “We can push him (Joe) to the left.” They made promises to the people of Georgia to get their Senators elected, then broke those promises after it was all said and done.
Lie after lie. Broken promise after broken promise. Empty posts on Twitter that only enrage the supporters more, not inspire them. Windows of opportunity that slammed shut with little effort to take advantage of them. Using self pity to ward off criticism. Getting people censored on YouTube and Twitter. The list goes on and on.
So, to the question at hand. Why are lefties so mad at AOC &Co.? Let’s use the tried and true fire fighter analogy. Your house is on fire. You call AOC & Co. to help put the fire out. The politicians show up, see that the house is on fire, then proceed to tell you that your house is on fire, which you already know. You ask, “Can you put the fire out? That’s why we called you. The other firefighters keep starting new fires. We need your help. You said if we hired you that you could put these fires out.” The politicians look at each other briefly and say, “Yeah, but this is going to take some time. We need to make sure that we form a committee to come up with a plan on how to put this fire out. Yeah, those other firefighters suck, but they’re better than the Orange firefighters. It’s all about the who getting to the what, and the how is the where…” You get the gist.
Point is, people like Bernie, AOC, etc., whether inadvertently or on purpose, took advantage of very desperate people in dire need of leaders to be their voice in Washington. It happened. It’s still happening as they constantly gaslight us, calling words violence and coming up with incomprehensible interview answers. We had so much confidence and hope that they would shake things up. It’s not like we wish they’d fail. We want them to succeed, to fight for us.
They played the game well and we ended up getting played.