New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) said Wednesday the next four years under President-elect Donald Trump will be a “very, very, very difficult, challenging time,” but urged Americans to reject sectarianism and work to build back a sense of community.
The progressive lawmaker spoke to followers on Instagram as the fallout from Republicans’ extremely strong election showing solidifies. While Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats still had a shot to wrest control of the House of Representatives from the GOP ― which would “block some of the most heinous legislative proposals” ― the nation was on the precipice of entering an era of “fascism and authoritarianism.”
“This is real. And I’m not here to sugarcoat what we are all about to collectively experience,” the lawmaker said on Instagram. “But I think that what we can do to prepare is build community. We do not have a choice our choice is to build. Our choice is to continue to fight, our choice is to win, our choice is to have each other.”
“We are about to enter a political period that will have consequences for the rest of our lives,” she went on. “We cannot give up.”
Ocasio-Cortez went on to say it was far too early to point the finger at any one group or one issue that hamstrung Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic bid, saying in all likelihood it was “an avalanche of different things.” But she, like fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), said Democrats needed to reconnect with America’s working class.
Election returns seem to show Harris lost ground with some of the same key demographics that helped elevate President Joe Biden to the White House four years ago. Those voting blocs — Latinos, young people and Black Americans among them — helped swing battleground states, and large portions of the country, to the right.
“Our main project is to unite the working class in this country against a fascist agenda,” Ocasio-Cortez said Wednesday. “We have had an enormous setback in this election because the fascists won a lot of working-class support, which has happened before in history.”
(Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“At the end of the day the ultimate problem is our ability to clearly and forthrightly advocate for an agenda that clearly champions the working class,” she added, pointing to calls for a national $15 minimum wage and proposals for universal health care.
Democracy In The Balance
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The lawmaker went on to say Americans dejected by the outcome should work over the next four years to build community and “never ever think that one choice or any act of yours is too small.”
“One day at a time. One choice at a time,” she said. “Regimes and autocracies are taken down by billions of drops of small actions that would otherwise be invisible.”