Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Path Forward for the Left

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most prominent progressives in Washington. Her political ascent began with her shocking 2018 defeat of a longtime incumbent in a New York district that includes parts of Queens and the Bronx. She is a strong advocate of the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. With her party’s razor-thin majorities now in peril, many of her priorities seem out of reach. Can the agenda she was elected to advance survive?

Ocasio-Cortez reflects on her time in Washington with David Remnick, painting a dysfunctional portrait of Congress. “Honestly, it is a shit show,” she says. “It’s scandalizing, every single day. What is surprising to me is how it never stops being scandalizing.”

This conversation is part of The New Yorker’s first digital-only issue, a special collection of New Yorker Interviews.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNWC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:08.6	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnick.
0:11.7	Alexandria Acasio Cortez is one of the most prominent progressives in Washington.
0:17.1	It all started with her shocking defeat of a long time incumbent in a New York district
0:21.7	that includes parts of Queens and the Bronx.
0:24.3	That was all back in the 2018 Democratic primary.
0:27.6	And Acasio Cortez was a strong advocate of the Green New Deal and Medicare for all.
0:34.0	Now Acasio Cortez is not alone among Democrats in those priorities, but as a member of the
0:39.3	House, she stood out.
0:41.3	Her questions during committee hearings often go viral, and she is a real master of social
0:46.5	media.
0:47.5	And she's also a lightning rod for criticism from Fox News and other conservative outlets
0:51.8	to an almost frenzied and strange degree.
0:56.4	But with her parties, razor thin majorities in Congress, now endangered.
1:01.4	Many of her priorities seem out of reach.
1:03.8	I spoke with Alexandria Acasio Cortez earlier this month.
1:08.4	Much of the Biden administration's agenda in Congress has pretty much stalled and there
1:14.8	are razor thin majorities in the House and the Senate.
1:18.6	And a term that began with at least lofty FDR like ambitions is now at a standstill.
1:25.4	How would you rate the president's performance after a year?
1:29.4	Well, I think there are some things outside of the president's control.
1:34.6	And you simply can't.
	...

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