Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez schools Meghan McCain and rest of ‘The View’ on what socialism actually is

On Wednesday’s The View, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came on to discuss, among other things, why the word “socialism” won’t turn America into a prison-state. Co-host Meghan McCain opened by comparing herself to Ocasio-Cortez, saying, “I feel like you’re the boogeywoman of the right and I’m the boogeywoman of the left, so it’s interesting to be talking to you.” This, of course, is the kind of false equivalency that conservatives like McCain are famous for. Meanwhile, McCain’s political sophistication level, in comparison to Ocasio-Cortez’s, is less like apples and oranges and more like apples and empty snail shells.

But in McCain’s defense, she was being cordial and trying to present an actual question that conservatives have about the political worldview that people like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez share with people like Sen. Bernie Sanders.

MCCAIN: What you’re proposing and what Bernie Sanders is proposing, you said Fox was, like, ushering in the apocalypse, with both of you. And to conservatives like me who think that big government is very very dangerous, it is like the apocalypse. And It’s not just that Bernie is asking a lot of voters to buy into what I consider radical ideas like free public college, the Green New Deal, Medicare for All. He’s advocating for a complete paradigm shift of the American system as we know it, and it’s a huge ask for people like me and it’s a huge ask for a lot of people, the seismic shift from capitalism to socialism.

McCain then brought up the recent polling that decontextualized Sanders’ policies and asked whether voters would vote for a “socialist,” etc. She threw the question to Ocasio-Cortez, who proceeded to deftly handle it the way we have all come to expect from the Queens, New York, representative.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: When you poll these abstract ideas, it’s one thing, but the majority of Americans would vote for Bernie Sanders. And that’s because of his record, his commitment, and his policies. But also, I think, you know, I think there’s one story that’s not really being told here is what’s actually happening on the ground in America. Do you know how many, what percent of American workers make less than $40,000 a year? Almost 60%. Sixty percent of Americans—

JOY BEHAR:— You can’t live on that in New York.

REP. OCASIO-CORTEZ: You can’t live on that in New York, and you can barely live on that anywhere, and you can’t live on that if you have kids. And I think that that reality, personally, does require a paradigm shift. This isn’t working for us. And a $2.1 trillion-dollar tax cut, which has been deemed capitalism at its finest, doesn’t work for us.

The audience applauded. Now, it’s easy to pile on Meghan McCain for asking the question, but considering that the Democratic Party is considering the sixth-wealthiest man in America to head our 2020 presidential ticket, it is important that we elucidate what some of the more popular and exciting Democratic politicians are promoting.

Ocasio-Cortez brought up how our current paradigm means that people are dying because they cannot afford insulin due to big pharma greed and zero regulations. Here, McCain asked how this would be paid for. It’s obvious around these here parts that a $2.1 trillion tax cut doesn’t pay for anything and the bill is being footed by those of us not getting the tax cut, but I digress.

Before Ocasio-Cortez could begin to answer, McCain, looking at her conservative think tank-provided notes, pointed out that free public college tuition would have a large-looking cost over 10 years. Ocasio-Cortez then made the observation that “It's funny because progressive policies are always talked about in 10-year price tags and conservative policies always talk about one-year price tags.” The dais, sans McCain, laughed at that fact, and then Ocasio-Cortez explained we don’t seem to worry about how we are going to pay for the $100 billion our military budget has increased duringa couple years of Trump, nor do conservatives seem to fear the apocalypse when “big government” controls women’s bodies.

Asked about the strange mythology that people love their private insurance and are fearful of losing it under a Medicare for All plan, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that she thinks people like their doctors, not their actual insurance providers, something the audience agreed with. And then, as if demanding I retract my original generosity toward Meghan McCain, the late senator’s spoiled daughter interjected that she didn’t “think we will find a middle ground.”

It’s almost as if McCain didn’t listen to a word Ocasio-Cortez said. McCain transitioned to asking about “Bernie Bros” and online misogyny. Ocasio-Cortez explained that the internet has a long history of harboring these kinds of shitty people, and that there is an anonymous world online that is hard to specifically cite as authentic  support for Sanders as opposed to something else. She also pointed out that while we must continue to disavow those promoting this bad and damaging behavior, horrific misogyny and bullying tactics online are unfortunately something that women must deal with from all “pockets.” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez reminded the panel that not long ago, she was the subject of a truly grotesque online campaign by ICE and Border Patrol personnel.

The View went to commercial after that, while McCain probably worked hard to forget anything she might have possibly learned.

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