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US POLITICS / DEMOCRATS ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ )AOC) AOC speaks with NPR Morning Edition \| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez PLAY YOUTUBE VIDEO Original article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbKkoxFVd0 Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess
AOC speaks with NPR Morning Edition \| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Mar 1, 2025 302K subscribers ... 341,403 views ,.. 20K likes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joins NPR Morning Edition to discuss the Republican budget plan, the Trump administration, and where Democrats go from here. Transcript 0:01 Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is one of the democratic party's biggest stars when she was first elected in 2018 she was very much an outsider a social media phenomenon often a Critic of her party's programs and leaders now she's seen as more of an Insider a somewhat more senior figure still a big star and so we brought her here to Studio One to ask what she thinks her party can do with its current dilemma Democrats are out of power in Washington they're watching president Trump enact his agenda and they know the president has great appeal with a large part of their traditional base the Working Class People OK Casio Cortez would feel that she would like to represent here's some of our conversation and I want to begin with how you see your party as an opposition party at the moment if you had to pick one word what is a word that describes the state of your party right now 1:00 I think a word to describe the state of the party is resolved if I had to pick one word it would be resolved it's not shocked or dism made or anything like that at this moment I mean in this defens I think we've moved through shock I think we've moved through dismay I think we've moved through the five stages of grief I think we've moved through uh that defensiveness but it it is I think a rapidly evolving situation and I would say this week especially in the light of last night's budget vote the moment right now today is result we're talking here on a Wednesday uh the night before there was this budget vote every single Democrat voted no do you consider that an accomplishment that your party was United even if it was United in a no yes I mean of course if we were not United 2:01 in yesterday's vote I think we would be in far far far uh deeper trouble but the fact that there is this much Unity um is is important it is I think a a baseline prerequisite for the moment to come and the fight over Medicaid Medicare and frankly huge swats of the American economy do you assume that Republicans are going to give you the issues that are going to allow you to come back I I do not make that assumption I do not believe that um elections are given I don't think of them I know many people think of them as natural pendulum swings and I completely understand why that is but I believe that in order for us to not just win a majority but to win decisive majorities that allow us to govern we need to be as strategic and tactical as possible but I do believe 3:00 that the Republican party is making certain large errors right now and that they are underestimating the public what are the erors I think that issuing a mandate to the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion specifically they are creating certain very specific numerical mandates in the budget cuts and they are demanding them from very specific areas that make it nearly impossible for them to keep their promises 880 billion is the cut over 10 years from Medicaid if I'm not mistaken from yes from from the Energy and Commerce Committee whose jurisdiction is overwhelmingly Medicaid and Medicare correct okay uh and you think that is a mistake that will come back to them why president Trump has gone on the record saying we're not going to touch Medicaid the Republican party is saying over and 4:00 over again we are not going to cut Medicaid we are not going to touch Medicare and you they cannot consistently hold both the $880 billion cut promise and not touching Medicaid Mike Johnson the house Speaker said just this week come on there's waste Fraud and Abuse we're going to cut it out without affecting anybody's benefits you don't believe that sure I think you can cut a bit here and there but it does not add to 800 80 billion just last night Republicans were saying kind of the the highest water number that they could find was 50 billion and that is if you cast the widest net and adopt all of their their definitions of what waste is what abuse is long-term care children's health insurance that's still 50 billion and they're talking about $880 billion I mean the math in what 5:00 they are offering as waste does not square with the price tag that and the Mandate that they've been given so what happens at the other end Ordinary People don't lose health care I guess but what happens do you believe if that cut actually becomes reality which is another question as to whether it ever happens yeah well if that cut becomes reality it's important for people to understand not just are people going to be thrown off of Medicaid not only are Medicare recipients who receive for example long-term care benefits from Medicaid going to be affected but people who are not on Medicaid are likely going to see their health insurance premiums go up because the more people get kicked off of Medicaid the more uninsured people there are in the United States the more they use ERS the more that they go directly to hospitals for care and the cost of uninsured people is often times then born uh in health insurance 6:02 premiums as well and deductibles the erosion of Democratic Party Support among working class voters has been pretty well documented it seems to cross uh racial and other lines um it's real and Democrats have talked a lot about what they maybe did wrong and the way that they spoke or the way they approached people or the way that they acted but I want to flip that around a little bit what do you think president Trump has done right that has appealed to traditional democratic constituencies I think that some of his campaign promises he does a good job of pairing what I would say some of the largest giveaways to the 1% and elites with very tangible um policy promises no tax on tips exactly you take no tax on tips no tax on social security these things sound great they also directly appeal to 7:02 very specific pockets of people who tend to be working class and that creates a permission structure right you toss a crumb to us and you give the farm to the big fish and I think he's very sophisticated in how he tailors those things together some of those promises are things that Democrats themselves would like capping interest rates on credit cards to give one example uh has there been some discussion among democr RS that I mean you're almost a little EnV envious he's gotten ahead of you on some of these issues well the the credit card interest rate cap is my bill from 2019 with Senator Sanders um and we're having some bipartisan momentum on it Senator Holly is interested in working with Senator Sanders and myself I'm I've also have been working with some Republican colleagues but it is a signal that Republicans understand the trouble that they are in trying to pursue their own 8:02 agenda in a very naked form they need certain fig leaves and they are sophisticated about that but it I think what people are seeing now is that increasingly they feel lied to right that these were campaign promises maybe they'll pass maybe they don't maybe they won't um but there is I think a slingshot effect that's happening right now when people are seeing the mass layoffs in the federal Workforce the cut offs in life-saving research the the real discussions from Elon Musk calling Medicaid recipients and people who receive snap and other food assistance a a parasite class uh and I think people are realizing that the Fig Leaf was the Fig leaf and it wasn't actually you know what's on the box wasn't what's inside 9:02 do you think the president has changed the subject effectively since he was elected I don't think he's changed the subject I think he is who he's always been but I think certainly some people feel that way I think of another aspect of this though Dean Phillips one of your fellow Democratic members uh was on television this past week Fox News as a matter of fact uh and he appeared to wish Democrats acted a little more like Trump in this way he wished that they would to business people to get smart people into government to talk about efficiency he seemed to wish Democrats would do what Elon Musk is doing even if he doesn't agree with the way that Elon Musk is doing it I would say that instead of appealing to other politicians we should be appealing to the American people and if you ask the American people what they think of what Elon Musk and Doge are doing with government right now they are 10:01 vehemently opposed the reactions right now are not just in Democratic districts they're in Republican districts even Republicans in my district they're saying I voted for Trump I did not vote for Elon Musk I did not vote for this I did not vote for mass buyouts of the federal Workforce we did not vote for the corruption of of gutting nasau and then having the contracts go to space we did not vote for starlink to start replacing critical FAA operations which is the thing that's in the news it's being discussed okay yes and um and I think that there is a very very deep corruption at the core of this if Elon Musk wanted to divest himself of his businesses and enter public service with um with with his so-called business expertise that is his prerogative but so 11:01 long as he maintains a uh a vested financial interest in gutting the federal government he is acting in his own self-interest and not those of the American people I want to underline who we're talking about here who you think is concerned about this uh there are blue State voters who voted for Donald Trump New York was more for Trump this time than in past elections your District was more for Trump than past elections and you've had social media discussions with people who voted both for you and for Donald Trump do you truly believe though that that class of Voters is paying attention and cares about the details of what you see as corruption and exactly the way that musk is going about what he's doing for Trump oh yeah I'm hearing it I'm seeing it and I represent a district that is very working class and by that I mean that I engage in a tremendous amount of constituent services this is not the kind of District that is where to Town Halls are typically filled to the 12:01 absolute brim people are working two jobs they're doing these kinds of things I am getting emails I am getting phone calls I had a you know a a telephone Town Hall last week that had really high numbers of attendance of people and we ask out of all of these attacks on immigration The Assault on Medicaid the budget conversation and musk's access to government which is the thing you are most concerned about and overwhelmingly even I'm surprised overwhelmingly the answer is they are concerned about this incursion in what they see as corruption into the federal government to what extent is immigration as an issue part of your problem with workingclass voters I mean I I guess my question would be what what does the word problem mean people voting for the other side and not for you feeling that feeling that Democrats are not serious about the 13:01 issue in ways that it concerned them I think that we have a problem on immigration because of the lack of progress that we've had on this issue um and as we know Republicans weaponized that lack of progress of course there was famously a bipartisan Bill last year that Republican majority in in the Senate and also in the house were willing to pass President Biden was willing to work with them on it and Donald Trump said do not solve this problem as long as it is broken um then it will be politically beneficial for us and so it is a problem not just for Democrats it's a problem for the entire country that Republicans do not want to solve any sort of issue with immigration they are completely uninterested in uh in addressing undocumented people in addressing a path to citizenship well they do want to 14:00 address undocumented people by removing them I mean that's what the president is attempting now even then uh you see what Republicans did with the lake and Riley act recently in their passage with it uh in that they authorized the complete gutting of due process so now you can take a a a a dock a recipient a dreamer just accuse them of a crime and Deport them and Deport them and however they also understand that they don't even have the infrastructure to do that so they're actually creating not just a it's not even about creating a deportation pipeline they are creating a private prison camp uh pipeline so they're still creating uh pipelines to just increase this problem here in the United States why do you think this issue did seem to be a political loser for Democrats among key groups and key constituencies if what you say is true I think that a 15:00 lack of a path to citizenship in this in the United States the lack of addressing comprehensive immigration reform creates a large population of undocumented people in the United States and that is allowed to be weaponized in many ways we have a large population of undocumented people in the United States overwhelmingly it is not because they crossed the southern border of the United States it's because they came here in a documented fashion and overstate a Visa sure and became undocumented and it is the lack of ability for us to expand path to citizenship modernize path to citizenship over decades that create this bubbling issue that we're allow that Republicans are allowed to to weaponize and you have voters in places like Arizona which is a swing state that Democrats lost or Colorado which is generally a blue State saying there's a lot of chaos there's a lot of lawlessness I know what to do here who's 16:00 looking who's looking out after me and I think when that is paired with divestment from the social safety net when that is paired with lack of progress on minimum wage when that is paired with rising cost of living it sets the stage for a strong man to point to any marginalized group and say it's their fault instead of looking at the the gross income inequality that we have and its actual causes in the United States and so that I think is the quandry that Republicans find themselves in because even on the debate stage you had vice president Vance and others trying to say that undocumented people are why we have a housing crisis in this country and they can fulfill their entire agenda you will never Deport your way into to more affordable rent you're never going 17:00 to deport your way into into being able to make your mortgage meet or make your groceries more affordable in fact Mass deportations may only make those things much more expensive actually and in my view people voted to lower their groceries people voted to try to make their lives affordable and right now the Trump Administration is already running into roadblocks into fulfilling that promise and they are in trouble and um that's a that's an issue they're going to have to contend with you had a recent uh dispute if that's the right word with Tom Holan the president's uh Homeland Security Zar so-called uh you held an online Forum a know your rights Forum that he didn't like what were you doing what was your goal as you saw it my job is to to uh 18:00 educate and act as a liaison of critical information to my constituents and I was informing all of my constituents of their constitutional protections and in particular um their um their constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure in the United States Holan was upset I suppose because he felt that you were giving advice to people who were here illegally mhm were you I was giving advice to all of my constituents yeah he said he was going to report you or even that he did reach out to the Department of Justice have you heard from the Department of Justice I have not and I intend on reaching out to the Department of Justice to inquire really what would your question be for the Department of Justice well there is a member of the Trump Administration who is threatening and seeks to open an inquiry and are you going to do it 19:01 what would you learn what do you hope to learn from that exchange I think it's important to know where this Administration stands and if they intend on using political intimidation to silence their CR critics uh the uh interim us attorney here in Washington DC where we are Ed Martin has several times said he has reached out to specific Democratic lawmakers such as Chuck Chuck Schumer the Senate Democratic leader to ask for clarification about various remarks that he regarded as threatening I'm interested if you or your fellow Democrats are at all feeling intimidated or silenced or anything I'm not um I think it's important to call this administration's Bluff I think that this is what authoritarians do I think this is what kleptocracies do I believe that this is what corrupt administrations do they rely on the 20:00 illusion of power on the suggestion of coercion in order to try to get people to comply in advance and I think that one of our largest responsibilities is to not comply in advance if they want to do these things they can go ahead and do them and let the American people see what they intend to do do you think there is a real risk of lawmakers being investigated charged arrested potentially I mean we see that this Administration is certainly wielding that threat and we will have to see if they intend on carrying out their threats if they are to be believed for what they are publicly suggesting then the answer would be yes but we will only find out if we call their Bluff do you think other Democrats are watching their 21:02 words I think it's certainly possible but I'm not sure I mean I I cannot think of or point to any individuals who have said that I do think that there are me Democratic members of Congress who are preparing for that possibility how do they prepare I think they look to the possibility of litigation I think they're saying you know do we have the the best teams possible in order to carry out our work some Republican or many perhaps will be watching this listening to this and thinking wait a minute actually you're the ones who are Prosecuting us you were the guys who are weaponizing the justice department how would you respond to somebody who may be thinking that in what way in what way um is it is the very PR pres putting Trump on trial would be 22:00 their example I suppose yes I mean here's the deal in the United States there is a jury where we are judged by our peers and he was found guilty in court on 34 felony charges if people want to say it was weaponized I mean it is hard pressed to say that there's a partisan argument for that you have senator Menendez famously uh Democratic senator from New Jersey Democratic senator from New Jersey uh convicted yeah and to 11 years in prison I believe you know this we see over and over again that there there has historically been an independent justice department uh that whose job it is to be separate and apart from the presidency and the executive branch just because someone was held to an equal 23:03 standard of the law does not mean that the justice department was weaponized however what is weaponization is that same previously independent Department of Justice and the US attorney's office now turning around saying we are not the American people's lawyers anymore we are the president's lawyers and that is a dramatic shift that is a dramatic change in the structure of our justice system it seems clear you would want to make a case then that this is a corrupt Administration that's abusing power does the Democratic party have some challenge in making that case though because of certain things that go on in the Democratic party or even in your state of New York or your city of New York where your mayor is Eric Adams yeah who was indicted until recently just for starters well you know I think it is important that we be not hypocritical itical in that I've called for Eric 24:00 Adams mayor Eric Adams to resign or be removed if he refuses to to do so and this is what equal treatment in the eyes of the law means it's that if you are a Democrat if you are a republican uh we should both be held to the same standards it's not in fact it's not even about the absence of corruption it's the willingness to take corruption to account to be to hold it to account independent of one's party affiliation and in mayor Adams's case what I think is transpiring is that and again what we saw coming out of the southern district of New York uh also in recent resignations and the letters that were made public is that there was a pretty explicit quidd proquo Arrangement that these attorne saw uh in mayor Adams approaching the 25:01 Trump Administration saying hey you let me off the off the hook and I will exchange public policy implementation which is just as damning not only for Eric Adams it's also equally damning in terms of Corruption of the Trump Administration is there another problem Democrats face because you would like government to work and there's a broad perception including among many liberals and progressives that government doesn't work very well it takes forever to build something in this country to give give a very obvious example uh we do have a couple million federal workers and a lot of people aren't sure how those people really touch their lives or do anything for them uh do you think government really isn't working well enough I think it's not just a it's it is about our society RIT large is completely slanted so that the gains that we have go to the wealthy go to the corporate class go to the largest corporations in 26:01 America who pay the least in taxes and everyday working people who pay much higher percentages of their income in taxes seeing the least benefit in society and that is a governance problem it is a social problem it is an economy-wide problem and I think the boiling rage that exists at this sense of Injustice that you are working one two J jobs you are scared to go to the doctor because you don't think that you'll be even able to afford a blood test that you're working tirelessly and you you're not even making eight n bucks an hour in a lot of places in this country I think that is what we consistently see and then on top of it Everything feels increasingly like a scale D that gross 27:00 not only are grocery prices going up but it's like everything has a fee and a search charge and I think that that anger is put out at government it is put out at a lot of different areas and in terms of efficiency our government can be tremendously efficient for the wealthy but inefficient at times in delivering things for working people that is not the same thing as justifying cutting the very few things that people actually interface with going after the post office going after the VA going after Medicaid and Medicare those are two entirely different propositions would you like a president to go in and break some China and mess things up even if you don't like the way this president is trying to do that I I think when we talk about breaking things messing things 28:03 up I mean to the FAA no to the NIH no to our ability to contain Ebola before it gets on a plane and comes into the United States no I don't want someone being Reckless with the most critical infrastructure I don't want someone being Reckless AB banding abandoning experimental medical devices that are implanted in in everyday Americans who have no other recourse because their disease is so far progressed I actually don't want someone taking a wrecking ball to someone's chemotherapy to just see what happens now I do think that we can examine certain things like Medicare Advantage that I think is a scam that in the name of so-called efficiency ironically enough we have handed over huge amounts of healthcare dispersements 29:01 to private insurers who are pocketing it and giving less coverage to the people who Reed this than ever before sure yeah let's go after that but I don't think we just destroy everything that we have worked so hard for as a country to become Innovative to become just to have some of the only lifelines that people have in this country to a roof over their head or food in their children's stomach no I don't think that we that we gamble with that representative Ocasio Cortez thanks so much for coming by of course thank you so much appreciate it

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