What are Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Flaws?

Ditzy AOC, that seems to be the angle the right-wing media has been taking on her

0_o how are they getting this from her being a sharp, focused, aware communicator and oh never mind

We need an investigative reporter to seek out his early classmates and ask what pejoratives they used while he was crammed in a locker with the band of his undershorts stretched over his head.

investigative reporters have so far failed to uncover the moment when cruel bullies shaped the formerly kind and placid Donnie into a defensive creature, trapped inside a harsh shell, that we can still reach and nourish and change

In elementary school, Donny impressed classmates with his refusal to acknowledge mistakes, even one so trivial as misidentifying a popular professional wrestler. No matter his pals’ ridicule, one recalled, he doubled down, insisting wrestler Antonino Rocca’s name was “Rocky Antonino.”

A fierce competitor, Trump could erupt in anger, pummeling another boy or smashing a baseball bat if he made an out, two childhood neighbors said. In school, he misbehaved so often that his initials became his friends’ shorthand for detention. .. “DTs” — short for “Donny Trump.”

Dennis Burnham was four years younger and lived around the corner from Donald. He inherited his own impression of his neighbor from his mother, who warned that he should “stay away from the Trumps.”

“Donald was known to be a bully, I was a little kid, and my parents didn’t want me beaten up,” said Burnham, 65, a business consultant in Texas.

Once when she left Dennis in a playpen in a back yard adjoining the Trumps’ property, Martha Burnham returned to find Donald throwing rocks at her son. “She saw Donald standing at the fence,” Dennis Burnham said, “using the playpen for target ­practice.”

“He had a reputation for saying anything that came into his head,” said Donald Kass, 70, a retired agronomist who was a schoolmate. When Trump misidentified Rocca, the pro wrestler, Kass recalled, “We would laugh at him and tell him he was wrong, and he’d say he was right. The next time, he would make the same mistake, and it would be the same thing all over again.”

In his neighborhood, Donald and his friends were known to ride their bikes and “shout and curse very loudly,” said Steve Nachtigall, who lived nearby. Nachtigall said he once saw them jump off their bikes and beat up another boy.

“It’s kind of like a little video snippet that remains in my brain because I think it was so unusual and terrifying at that age,” recalled Nachtigall, 66, a doctor in New Jersey. “He was a loudmouth bully.”

Ann Trees, 82, who taught at Kew-Forest School, where Trump was a student through seventh grade: “He was headstrong and determined. He would sit with his arms folded with this look on his face — I use the word surly — almost daring you to say one thing or another that wouldn’t settle with him.”

Trump wrote that his main focus as a youngster was “creating mischief.” As a second-grader, he wrote, he “actually” gave his music teacher a black eye because “I didn’t think he knew anything about music, and I almost got expelled.”

None of Trump’s childhood friends recall the incident or Donald talking about it then. Asked about the punch recently, Trump said, “When I say ‘punch,’ when you’re that age, nobody punches very hard.”

At a 2009 reunion, Kass said, the teacher, Charles Walker, told him that Trump had never struck him. But Walker, who died last year, claimed no affection for Trump. In the final stages of his life, according to his son, Charles Walker learned that Trump was considering a presidential bid.

“When that kid was 10,” Peter Walker recalled his father telling family members gathered at his bedside, “even then he was a little s---.”

Dobias said he recognized in Trump an innate drive: “He wanted to be number one. He wanted to be noticed. He wanted to be recognized. And he liked ­compliments.”

Enraged by a bunkmate's unmade bed, he threw the boy's sheets on the floor and

tried to push a fellow cadet out a second-floor window, only to be thwarted when two other students intervened.

In his room, Trump played Elvis Presley and Johnny Mathis albums. He liked to screw an ultraviolet light into the overhead socket and lie down for a tan. “We’re going to the beach,” Trump would announce to his roommate, David Smith.

A month after senior year started, Trump faced a crisis. One of his platoon sergeants shoved a plebe, Lee Ains, against a wall because the freshman was too slow snapping to attention. At the time, the academy was already dealing with a serious hazing incident and was sensitive to new allegations of abuse. The administration reassigned Trump as a battalion training officer.

Ains said the academy concluded that Trump had not monitored his officers “as closely as he should have.”

Trump described his reassignment as a promotion. “I did a good job and that’s why I got elevated,” he said.

I mean, there's these, but I don't know how effective suddenly calling him Donny or referring to his hair is gonna be at curtailing him. Might have to impeach or something instead?

Even Trump has acknowledged the similarities between himself as an adult and when he was the boy whom friends alternately referred to as “Donny,” “The Trumpet” and “Flat Top” (for his hair).

I don't know, man. Maybe we should try calling him Drumpf again first.

Whole lot of Trump posting on the AOC thread

we need somewhere to talk about him

Imagine being lectured by a Cheney about mass murder. On second thought, don't imagine that. https://t.co/vUQiJVBbQD

— Dennis Perrin (@DennisThePerrin) June 18, 2019

https://i.imgur.com/KklPPjw.jpg

Liz Cheney can get the Shoah out of her fucking mouth

George Takei, 1940s US "internee," backs up AOC

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/george-takei-us-has-concentration-camps/

AOC on CNN not merely defending but doubling down on "concentration camps" callout like a complete boss

I know it gets harder and the job is disillusioning but I really hope she is able to sustain this boldness

on a day like today it feels more and more critical

This Senate Bill will have us write a $4.6 Billion blank check (incl military $) for the border w NO accountability - just a verbal pinky promise.

Trump is not to be trusted with protecting our immigrants. Why must that even be stated? We need hard lines of protection, in ink. https://t.co/xFci23pFo6

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 27, 2019

uh oh, look out Intercept haterz

Climate change is here + we’ve got a deadline: 12 years left to cut emissions in half.

A #GreenNewDeal is our plan for a world and a future worth fighting for.

How did we get here?
What is at stake?
And where are we going?

Please watch & share widely ⬇️pic.twitter.com/IMCtS86VXG

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 17, 2019

Generally speaking I think the intercept is fine, it’s just greenwald who sucks

can you do that for all the other tweets you post

“uh oh look out doug henwood haters”

give us a kiss

Uh oh look out kiss haters

definitely more of a king diamond guy, if that's what you're getting at.

The Intercept played a role in the conviction of whistleblower/patriot Reality Winner.

as did we all

It's slightly annoying that AOC lacks an innate sonar for oncoming meme garbage barges.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/29/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-met-greta-thunberg-hope-contagious-climate

pelosi does bad

“A glass of water could’ve [beat a 20-yr incumbt]”
“The Green Dream or whatever”
“Their public whatever”

Those aren’t quotes from me; they‘re from the Speaker. Having respect for ourselves doesn’t mean we lack respect for her.

It means we won’t let everyday people be dismissed. https://t.co/VMRkcd8xlL

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 8, 2019

this is a good tweet

pelosi seems threatened by AOC

the legacy pol's territory has wire fencing

her "They’re four people, and that’s how many votes they got" comment is going to look pretty shortsighted if/when AOC and "the squad", which is apparently what they're called, get more support in the house

"What's Meadows and Mulvaney got, a half-dozen knuckle-draggers?"

wow pelosi is kind of a piece of shit

a very unpopular opinion on this board 4 months ago, will

Pelosi did a lot of good for a lot of people by keeping the democratic party united through some crazy ass times. She’s been one of the most effective speakers (given the crazy ass times) in any of our lifetimes. She’s also showing how out of touch she is with what motivates the next wave of the Democratic Party. Those aren’t incompatible views, I don’t think.

I guess we can all look forward to yasss kweening in hell when trump gets re-elected

"The squad" has four votes, does not have a caucus (like, say, the Congressional Black Caucus), has no seniority, and no committee chairmanships. They currently have very little power in the House. Pelosi is being unnecessarily antagonistic, but she is stating a fact of political power - twitter followers /= votes on the floor. Pelosi commands a majority of those votes, they command four.

Pelosi also knows its useful to have a foil on the left, it allows her to consolidate power in the rest of the caucus

like how do you not know to not antagonize the activist wing who are going to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting getting out the vote in 2020? it’s almost like you prefer to be fundraising off a an unpopular idiot pres/ opposition party for the rest of your days rather than actually governing...

the only other explanation I got is she’s going soft in the head.

we still don't have to like her shakes!

she doesn't care if you like her, she doesn't need the activist wing to like her either - the point at which she needs them to like her is the point at which they command enough votes to scuttle legislation a la the Freedom Caucus in the GOP. They don't have that now, and the next point at which they *may* have that power is not until 2020.

like I said, it's actually to her benefit if the activist wing doesn't like her

idk maybe having a “foil” on the left helps w the caucus (but really?), but if she thinks it’s going to make her party the “sensible moderate alternative” for white Panera moms or even the mainstream media, I think she’s going to be extremely disappointed.

or not, bc again—not convinced she actually gaf about winning anything other than donors

Panera moms!

I hate to invoke it, but as long as the “O window” only moves right (aided and abetted by the Dem leadership), it’s going to this or worse forever.

to be*

I read that as Pantera moms.

lol yes what about the Pantera moms? sure, maybe their exes are mostly alt-right now. but they probably want universal healthcare, living wages and affordable childcare

^^Gun control too, because Dimebag...

I keep having to look up "Overton window." Is this really a thing people say in conversation? It sounds like early 20th century interior design.

It is probably spoken aloud and earnestly in hundreds of dorm rooms across the nation every week.

xp it is this side of the Atlantic! I read/hear that several times a week.

idk maybe having a “foil” on the left helps w the caucus (but really?), but if she thinks it’s going to make her party the “sensible moderate alternative” for white Panera moms or even the mainstream media,

these are not the same thing! maintaining control of the caucus means her ability to corral votes, and from her POV as the Speaker anything that helps her achieve this end is valuable. How it plays outside the chamber is not relevant/doesn't enter the calculus.

lads

Pelosi's primary job is to maintain control of the House, now and in the near future. She has little influence on Senate or presidential elections. She will cater more to members who have successfully held seats for a long time than to new members who have only won one or two elections. She will cater more to members who align with the preponderance of the caucus than those whose support is weak or equivocal. That's the system.

AOC and her cohort have to sow the seeds of their own success by bringing the caucus along to their positions. That's going to take time. Their best argument is to become acknowledged leaders regarding issues popular with voters, not just in their districts, but in the nation at large. They are already launched in that direction. We need to support them vocally to lend them the power they will need to change things.

for someone so talented there *must* be a better way to corral votes/ maintain your caucus than shitting on popular politicians from your party in the press?

unless your intended audience is actually pharma execs.