Calm Down. AOC’s Bernie Endorsement Was Purely Symbolic and She Fully Supports Biden.

But the misunderstanding, fueled by the media’s lack of context, is already getting weaponized.

In the 60 seconds Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, she stuck to a largely familiar script calling for systemic change in American politics. Even for the incredibly popular and charismatic first-term congresswoman, the appearance wasn’t exactly headline-making stuff.

Until it was. Within moments of her remarks, outrage exploded on social media, with comments like, “Did she really just do this? WTF.” Another tweet chided, “Bad, bad move. She just lost me as a follower and supporter.” At issue was Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement of Bernie Sanders, a purely symbolic move that honors convention rules stating that candidates who meet a threshold of delegates receive a formal “nomination” during the DNC. It most certainly was not, as some on Twitter and several news outlets charged, a rogue move to slight the official nominee, Joe Biden. Ocasio-Cortez clarified as much on Twitter.

Ocasio-Cortez was right to call out the egregious mischaracterization; it sparked confusion on the left, as well as an entire conservative news cycle relishing supposed discord among Democrats. The swift and unwarranted suspicion underscores how little faith some have in Ocasio-Cortez despite vowing for months that she’d back Biden if he became the party’s nominee. For her commitment to party unity to get derailed by news outlets who failed to do some pretty basic homework, well, that’s just maddening. That is, of course, if you’re Fox News:

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate