The DSA has a new gatekeeper for who gets to participate in American democracy. Her name is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and she has decided that Jewish Americans who support Israel’s right to exist don’t belong in the Democratic Party. Or, well, in politics at all. Like, ever.
AIPAC announced Wednesday that it was preparing to spend money supporting Republican Mike Rogers in his Michigan Senate race specifically to defeat Abdul El-Sayed, the anti-Israel DSA socialist who just won the Democratic primary. The group expressed disappointment that Rep. Haley Stevens, whom they had backed, lost her primary. They congratulated other Democrats they had supported on their primary victories. Standard political activity, done openly, transparently, and within every legal boundary that governs American political participation.
AOC’s response was to declare that AIPAC had proven it “doesn’t belong in the Dem Party and especially our primaries.” She accused them of “undermining democracy at home and abroad.”
AIPAC’s response was one of the most complete public demolitions of a congressional incumbent in recent political memory. It’s worth reading in full — but here’s the core of it:
Your obsession with singling out our members and their rights to participate in the political process undermines democracy. Your big tent is apparently large enough to include those who say America deserved 9/11, but small enough to exclude those who want America to stand with our democratic ally.
In other words, AOC’s Democratic Party has room for candidates who say America deserved September 11th. It does not have room for Jewish Americans who support Israel.
That’s not a fringe reading. It’s the documented reality of where the Democratic base has gone. El-Sayed, whom AOC is defending by attacking AIPAC, has stated that Israel does not have a right to exist. The DSA whose platform El-Sayed runs on calls for defunding the Pentagon, abolishing the Senate, and abolishing borders. Its co-chair confirmed on live television that the organization’s goal is communism. AOC herself wears the DSA label proudly and shares its most extreme positions.
None of this qualifies as “undermining democracy” in AOC’s world. Jewish Americans spending money to support candidates who believe Israel has a right to exist — that’s the threat.
The irony AOC will never acknowledge: she has been photographed speaking in front of all-male audiences in settings where women are segregated, defended by groups whose ideology explicitly oppresses women, while positioning herself as a champion of women’s rights. She applauds movements that would put her in a hijab before they put her in a cabinet meeting. The useful idiots always find out last.
AIPAC has been a major funder of Democratic candidates for decades. They have the right to spend their money however they choose. They have the right to oppose candidates who don’t believe their community has the right to exist.
AOC doesn’t get to be the bouncer for American democracy. Especially not while her own party is busy nominating candidates who want to abolish it.
