AOC Is Fundamentally Unserious on War and Peace

When asked by a student at the University of Chicago about working across the aisle with Republicans, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said, drawing a line, “I personally do not trust someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a proven bigot and antisemite, on the issues of what is good for Gazans and Israelis.”

To note, the former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been a staunch and  vocal opponent of the U.S. funding and support of Israel’s war in Palestine and was the first Republican member to call the tragedy in Gaza a “genocide.”

AOC didn’t offer any proof of “proven” bigotry or antisemitism coming committed by Greene. Ocasio-Cortez did stand by her 2021 comments raised by an audience member about there being “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers at the core of the House of Representatives caucus.”

It has long been established that modern-era Democrats call Republicans racist reflexively and habitually, typically with no grounding. This is not new—some might recall MSNBC accusing Mitt Romney of using Ku Klux Klan rhetoric in 2012—but It is just what Dems do now, comparable to Republicans who might blanket label Democrats “commie.” It’s not serious.

What is serious are some of the good-faith actors on both the left or right who have been genuinely concerned about the Israeli and American wars in Iran, Palestine, and potentially foreign policy-related issues like Jeffrey Epstein.

Last month, Greene appeared with Khanna on CNN and told host Kaitlan Collins, “Ro Khanna and I both are willing to say that the current center of right and left that have been coming together for decades have failed Americans. And Ro and I, just like he said, we’re completely different. I'm unapologetically pro-life. I’m against the trans agenda on children. I’m against the Green New Deal. I’m for very secure borders and a strong economy and a smaller government.”

“But the current center right and left that coalition in America have got us in $40 trillion in debt, have funded foreign war affirmations, foreign war after foreign war and now funding another one and they will be and how we don't know how long this will go and it's gotten to a point where Americans can’t afford life, Caitlin,” she continued, “and so Ro and I we exchanged comments on social media saying that we recognize how for the left and the right to come together and find issues that we can work together on together on.”

Greene was urging a left-right coalition that might actually get results, despite any— and many—differences.

Why would the Indian-American Khanna work with a “proven” white bigot like Greene? Perhaps because he too sees a better chance of getting results with a bipartisan coalition—and also, maybe, quite possibly, Greene really isn’t a bigot and Khanna happens to be a bit smarter than your average partisan Dem. (In the same cross-ideological spirit, Rep. Khanna is also no stranger to The American Conservative’s foreign policy conferences.)

It was Khanna and his Republican friend and frequent ally, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who got the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed in the House in November and for the president to sign it. The movement against American involvement in the Middle East—war, funding, and the rest—has been led by “America First” conservative Republicans like Greene, Massie, and Rand Paul in the Senate, along with the genuinely progressive Khanna.

Such alliances are also definitely not new. A decade or two ago, it was libertarian Republican Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) and progressive Democrat Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) who were friends who regularly joined forces in the House for many years to oppose wars and protect civil liberties.

To be fair, AOC has also done some bipartisan work in foreign policy, like when she teamed up with the neoconservative senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Tom Cotton (R-AK) to call for more sanctions on China. Surely no Democrat has ever accused Cruz or Cotton of racism!

This left-right antiwar bridge building is not confined to Congress. Some of the most vociferous opponents of America’s mindless wars abroad have been conservatives like popular podcasters Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Megyn Kelly, who appear on, or feature the hosts of, progressive shows of like The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, Jimmy Dore, and Glenn Greenwald.

“MTG sacrificed her political career to stand against genocide, against Trump, against the Epstein Class, and to defend the survivors of Epstein’s trafficking,” Grim wrote. “If that doesn’t earn credibility I don’t know what possibly could.”

Uygur wrote, “This is just terrible. She sounds just like the establishment. She’s attacking an opponent of Israel as an antisemite. This is exactly what Israeli supporters want—split the anti-war movement and the critics of Israel’s genocide. Deeply counterproductive. And selfish.”

Greene shared AOC’s remarks against her and reminded her followers where this “antisemite” smear might actually be coming from, writing, “AOC refused to vote for my amendment to strip funding for Israel. She can run her mouth all she wants but votes are the only thing that matters, not a bunch of words and nasty name calling.”

Indeed. Votes and “results” should matter. Certainly more than mere rhetoric and calling names.

But these are not AOC’s priority. For her and Democrats like her, identity politics are apparently more important than results and creating the left-right coalitions needed to produce them.

AOC’s war and peace talk is mere branding. It’s not real.

This is basic politics. Left-right coalitions are likely to be crucial to any effective antiwar movement, and if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refuses them she is proving herself to be fundamentally unserious on this issue.