Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez only had about 60 seconds to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, but her TikTok length speech was enough to confuse and enrage people on Twitter and trigger misleading headlines from a group of political experts who apparently have no idea how the nomination process works.
In a pre-recorded address, Ocasio-Cortez nominated Sen. Bernie Sanders for president, lauding a “mass people’s movement working to establish 21st-century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed health care, higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the United States.”
Speeches like this are part and parcel of the nomination process: A few people give short speeches for candidates who received more than 300 delegates during the primary. Only Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden met that threshold this year, therefore, both Sanders and Biden received formal nominations. Ocasio-Cortez did this as both formality and favor.
Ocasio-Cortez’s continued:
A movement striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia. And to propose and build reimagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past. A movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few, at the expense of long-term stability for the many. And who organized a historic, grass roots campaign to reclaim our democracy.
In a time when millions of people in the United States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crisis of mass evictions, unemployment and lack of health care, en el espíritu del pueblo, and out of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for president of the United States of America.
Again, this is not new. Sanders received a formal nomination during the 2016 DNC even though Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee, and Hillary Clinton received a formal nomination at the 2008 DNC when Barack Obama was the presumptive nominee. But people have short memories, and it’s a lot easier to shout on Twitter than it is to Google.
This forced Ocasio-Cortez to explain and defend why she gave her speech, with people clogging her mentions with accusations that she was being divisive. Check out the replies to the following tweet if you’re skeptical about the nature of this vitriol:
It didn’t help that several headlines—from NBC to the New York Post to Fox News—characterized Ocasio-Cortez’s speech as a snub toward Biden. The NBC News Twitter account tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez simply “didn’t endorse Biden.”
The network retracted the tweet hours later and apologized, but it was too little too late for Ocasio-Cortez, who rightfully called out the tweet as misleading.
Naturally, New York Post and Fox News aren’t retracting jack shit.
The real crime here is that the only role Ocasio-Cortez has in the DNC is a 60 second Bernie Sanders speech. Ocasio-Cortez is the future of the Democratic Party, and it’s about time the party leadership treated her as such.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany gave another thrilling presser on Wednesday, in which she tried to spin President Trump’s bullshit into gold. The day’s highlight included McEnany defending Trump’s call for a boycott of Goodyear tires after a Goodyear employee alleged that Make America Great Again and Blue Lives Matter paraphernalia is forbidden, while Black Lives Matter and LGBT apparel is permitted.
Goodyear released a statement saying that they ask employees to, “refrain from workplace expressions in support of political campaigning for any candidate or political party, as well as similar forms of advocacy that fall outside the scope of racial justice and equity issues.” McEnany claimed that this was discriminatory against Trump supporters.
“As far as I’m concerned, Blue Lives Matter is an equity issue,” McEnany said, before asserting that MAGA is synonymous with Blue Lives Matter.
Ah yes, the systematic oppression of... MAGA chuds. It’s a real problem out there!
- Facebook is finally cracking down on QAnon. [NBC News]
- Speaking of nuts, Anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer won a Republican primary in Florida. Trump congratulated her. The administration doesn’t see a problem with this.