This bizarre year has witnessed the coronavirus pandemic, murder hornets, Tiger Kings, the extraterrestrial Galactic Alliance, and peace in the Middle East. But it seems this extremely willful annus horribilis has one last trick up its sleeve before 2021 comes upon us: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar are actually making sense.
I know, I know, you want to know what I’m drinking, smoking, or otherwise using to addle my mental state, so you can enjoy a whiff of that sweet, sweet substance. But I’m not joking and this isn’t The Onion or its far superior satire competitor, the Babylon Bee. I genuinely mean that the socialist AOC and the Somali Muslim who defends basing law on Sharia have actually entered the realm of sanity, however briefly.
Sure, their dalliances with rationality may be brief, and Lord knows I wouldn’t touch their radical socialism with a ten-foot pole, but I actually found myself agreeing with these two members of the infamous “Squad.”
It started earlier this week when AOC, the infamous author of that horrific nightmare bill the Green New Deal, complained about a measure in the COVID-19 stimulus bill just before Congress voted to pass it on Monday night. Among other things, the bill would make illegal streaming a felony — because penalizing people who pirate video content totally helps fight the pandemic.
“This is why Congress needs time to actually read this package before voting on it,” AOC tweeted. “Members of Congress have not read this bill. It’s over 5000 pages, arrived at 2pm today, and we are told to expect a vote on it in 2 hours. This isn’t governance. It’s hostage-taking.”
AOC then insisted that the general public should be able to read a bill — what a concept! “And by the way, it’s not just members who need to see the bill ahead of time – YOU do. The PUBLIC needs to see these bills w enough time to contact their rep to let them know how they feel. Members are reeling right now bc they don’t have time to consult w/ their communities,” she concluded.
And by the way, it’s not just members who need to see the bill ahead of time – YOU do.
The PUBLIC needs to see these bills w enough time to contact their rep to let them know how they feel.
Members are reeling right now bc they don’t have time to consult w/ their communities.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 21, 2020
Now, AOC is not likely to join the Tea Party anytime soon — heck, she has accused the Tea Party of “white supremacy,” whatever that term happens to mean at the current moment — but her complaint about leadership foisting a multi-hundred-page bill on Congress shortly before a vote would fall right in line at the Tea Party rallies of 2010.
Even stalwart conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declared, “[AOC] is right.” 2019, hold my beer. (By the way, Cruz voted against the bill in question, while AOC still voted for it. Her sanity may have been fleeting, it seems.)
Of course, rather than rushing to sign the COVID-19 relief monstrosity (which is jam-packed with pork and climate shenanigans), President Donald Trump demanded Congress give him a bill with a $2,000 stimulus check for American individuals.
That’s when Ilhan Omar — the Somali-American Muslim who has compared boycotts of Israel to boycotts of Nazi Germany and who actually got banned from entering the State of Israel — started making sense.
“We need to send a clean bill with just $2,000 survival checks and a separate spending/covid relief bill,” she tweeted. “Negotiating everything into one bill is how we got here, since Trump wants to sign a bill with survival checks, let’s send one to his desk right away.”
We need to send a clean bill with just $2,000 survival checks and a separate spending/covid relief bill.
Negotiating everything into one bill is how we got here, since Trump wants to sign a bill with survival checks, let’s send one to his desk right away.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 23, 2020
Wait, so Congress should actually consider simple policies that garner widespread support rather than stuffing a whole bunch of pork into a “comprehensive” law to change everything in one fell swoop?
Who are these ladies and what did they do with the socialists who want to foist things on the American people without their consent? AOC and Ilhan Omar actually supported basic representative government: popular access to the text of a bill before it passes and smaller bills that better represent specific, targeted policies rather than a “comprehensive” reform approach.
I fully expect both AOC and Ilhan Omar to return to their scheduled programming of big government climate fearmongering and identity politics pandering, but it sure was nice to agree with them even if just for a New York minute.
Once again, 2020 has demonstrated that sometimes hell really does freeze over, pigs really do fly, and socialists really do say things that make sense. Of course, hellfire, gravity, and the illogic of socialism will all present themselves and destroy these fleeting moments — which is why we must appreciate them all the more.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
