Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) recently rallied behind President Joe Biden amid calls for the leading Democrat to bow out of the 2024 election.
During a Thursday appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Sanders explained why he still supports Biden as the presumptive nominee.
“I think, of all of the candidates out there – I am more than aware of the disastrous debate that he had and the problems that he has – but I am also aware that he has been the strongest, most progressive president of my lifetime,” the Vermont senator said.
“He is the first president in American history to stand with workers on a picket line,” he continued. “He has lowered the cost of prescription drugs. We are now rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and we have put more money into combating climate change than any time in the history of this country. Five million Americans have gotten student debt relief and that's for a start – so he has a record to run on.”
Sanders added, “The ideas that he is talking about, I think, will resonate with the middle class and working class of this country.”
He also said Biden has a plan to expand Social Security benefits “by taxing the wealthy.” 🚨🇺🇸BERNIE SANDERS: BIDEN IS THE STRONGEST, MOST PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENT IN MY LIFETIME
“Let me be very clear as to why I support President Biden.
He is the first president in American history to stand with workers on a picket line.
He has lowered the cost of prescription drugs,… pic.twitter.com/BPrQKjTilL
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 19, 2024
During an hour-long Thursday livestream on Instagram, Ocasio-Cortez addressed what she referred to as “this whole electoral situation.”
“I do think that people underestimate Biden’s performance,” she said. “I think that is how he became president, is through a lot of people underestimating his performance with demographics that are not traditionally valued. And I think that people see where he’s weak. They don't often see where he's strong – just electorally, purely electorally.”
She added: “I’m not a professional pollster. I am not a political pundit. I am a person whose job it is to win elections.” .@AOC: I’m not a pollster. I’m not a pundit. I do think that they underestimate Biden's performance. I think that is how he became president, through a lot of people underestimating his performance with demographics that are not traditionally valued. They don't often see where… pic.twitter.com/usIOks9BMX
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) July 19, 2024
“What upsets me is people saying we will lose,” the New York representative continued. “For me, I don’t care who, to a certain extent, I don’t care what name is on there, we are not losing. I don't know about you, but my community does not have the option to lose. My community does not have the luxury of accepting loss in July of an election year.”
“I’m not here to like, say everything is amazing, OK?” she said. “I’m not here to say that like, oh, to like, lie to people. What I am here to say is that we need to … make decisions in the conditions that we have before us.”
In another portion of the livestream, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that a class of “people with power” and “people with a lot of money” essentially shifted their support away from Biden after the debate did not “go well,” she said.
“If you think that there is consensus among the people who want Joe Biden to leave, that they will support Vice President Harris, who would be mistaken,” she said. “I’m in these rooms. I see what they say in conversations. A lot of them are not just interested in removing the president. They are interested in removing the whole ticket.”
Ocasio-Cortez also emphasized the importance of beating Trump, whom she referred to as “very old, and a racist, and a neo-Nazi.” AOC calls Trump a neo-N*zi days after he was shot. Is this what toning it down looks like? pic.twitter.com/Ih0Slh94qu
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 19, 2024
Despite reports that top Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, are questioning Biden’s pending nomination, the president’s campaign insisted on Friday that he will not back down.
“Absolutely the president is in this race. You've heard him say that time and time again,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, the chairwoman for the Biden campaign, during a July 19 appearance on Morning Joe. “Donald Trump is not going to offer anything new to the American people. He is the same person he was in 2020. He is the same person he was at the debate stage.”
O’Malley Dillion said the Republican presidential candidate “is about himself and not about the American people.”
“Joe Biden is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump,” she said. “We believe on this campaign that we are built for the close election that we are in and we see the path forward.”
The chairwoman maintained that Biden “is the best person to take on Donald Trump."
Nick Cruse, a socialist who founded the Revolutionary Blackout Network, a media outlet dedicated to community outreach and supporting black radicals, took to social media to denounce Ocasio-Cortez’s comments.
“She went on Instagram live in order to shill for one of the most unpopular presidents in modern history,” he said. “AOC is trying to convince you that it’s only the donor class, only the establishment that wanna get rid of Joe Biden, while the grassroots, while the working-class people, are clamoring for another term of Joe Biden.”
Cruse cited an AP News poll that found two-thirds of Democrats want Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.
“What does it say about AOC and Bernie Sanders that they’ve been the fiercest defenders of … Biden over the last three and a half years?” he asked. “Bernie Sanders and AOC exist to shift what it means to be a socialist to the right and create a weak, feckless left in the United States.”
