>> The mainstream media just doesn't get progressives.
And nothing makes that clearer than the way AOC has been reported on, especially when
it comes to the dues that she's supposed to pay to the DCCC.
Now, the DCCC notoriously is led by Cheri Bustos.
They've been clear in saying that they will not support any Democratic candidate who is
challenging a Democratic incumbent in primary elections.
And so remember, AOC primaried an incumbent Democrat and won.
So the DCCC stance is very much against people like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
So with that said, recently Fox News reported on a story that was not a news story.
It was actually originally reported by The Intercept, Ida Chavez to be specific.
But here's the headline.
A scoop, AOC withholding a quarter million dollars in dues from the Democratic Party
in protest and building her own grassroots fundraising for progressives instead.
Ida Chavez, again, reporter at The Intercep, responded by saying, what part of this is
a scoop?
We reported this in September.
I love it.
>> Yeah, but on the Internet, does that count?
>> I know right.
It's incredible.
>> God it is terrible, months in advance they had it.
>> So check out The Intercept, they do all sorts of wonderful reporting.
But now, let's fill in the blanks, and talk about how much of a boss AOC is, when it comes
to this story.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has already topped the fundraising charts in her
short time in Congress.
But the liberal darling won't donate a cent of her millions to Democrats' House campaign
organization.
A position that has rankled some of her colleagues.
This is the framing by Fox News, I want to be clear about that.
>> Don't say liberal darling, that's weird.
>> I know.
She's actually not a liberal darling.
>> No.
>> Liberals can't stand her.
Progressives love her.
>> Yeah, progressive darling.
Don't say that either.
>> Yeah, so let me give you more.
An anonymous Democratic source spoke to Fox News and gave them this quote.
Deadbeet Cortez should pay her bills.
She's always whining about people paying their fair share and here she is leaving her friends
with the bill.
That's- >> No, this is so infuriating.
>> Deadbeat Cortez.
>> This is the type of Democrat that we rail against on this show, right?
Because she doesn't owe DCCC anything.
They have come out against her aggressively.
>> They tried to stop her from having a career.
>> 100%, right?
And so why would she fundraise on their behalf, that's gross.
Wouldn't it make more sense for her to have her own fundraising arm, to help progressives
who want to run for Congress?
I think that makes a lot more sense, and that's actually what she's doing.
So more from the Fox News report.
Their gripe is that Ocasio-Cortez hasn't given any money to the DCCC, the party arm with
the sole job of electing Democrats to the House.
I love how their sole job is to elect, how about the voters get to elect Democrats to
the House?
>> Yeah, yeah, and technically, I guess they're trying to get people elected to the House.
We will disagree very much on the way they go about doing that.
And you can't simply state that as if, and thus they know all that is best in life.
I would argue that they're doing a really bad job of it in a lot of cases and they could
learn a hell of a lot from Ocasio-Cortez.
>> Yes, but Ocasio-Cortez and other freshman progressives represent everything that the
Democratic establishment despises.
Because they challenge corruption, which is a virus that's affected both parties.
There's no question about it.
And they go after the donors that the Democratic Party has really relied on for their fundraising
efforts, and they hate that.
So they hate people like Ocasio-Cortez.
>> Yeah.
>> Which is why I think it's great play by Ocasio-Cortez to avoid fundraising on their
behalf.
Why is she gonna give them money?
That makes no sense.
And so here is AOC's response.
I give quite a bit to fellow Dems.
We fundraised over $300,000 for others, more than my dues, with over 50% going to swing
seats.
DCCC made clear that they will blacklist any org that helps progressive candidates like
me.
I can choose not to fund that kind of exclusion.
>> And thank God that she is doing that.
>> Love it.
She's amazing.
>> It would be such a betrayal if she got in then was suddenly like, yeah, I'm gonna
sign up for the same sort of protection racket that the guy I beat did.
And imagine if she did it, and Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, all of them.
They were just like, yeah, yeah, it was way harder to get elected thanks to groups like
the DCCC.
But now I wanna be protected, too, so I'm gonna help make them even stronger.
That would be the ultimate betrayal.
>> And let's be honest, that is what I feel a lot of candidates end up doing.
>> Yeah.
>> They'll run these inspiring campaigns and they'll sell themselves as these progressive
fire brands.
Then they get elected and they will kneel to Democratic leadership.
>> Yeah.
>> And to the DCCC.
>> Well- >> She also said via Twitter, just real quick
I wanna read this, I'm also not the only one, expanding a House majority is critical.
Which is why I regularly, and happily, fundraise sizeable amounts for fellow members.
I also believe that a Democratic majority should be transformative.
Which is why I give strategically.
Seems fair, no?
I totally agree.
I think that's very smart.
Now she does her own PAC.
It's known as the Courage to Change PAC.
And that's how she raises money.
When community leaders, activists, and working class candidates try to run for office organizations
like DCCC discouraged them.
These potential progressive leaders are asked, can you raise $300,000 from your friends and
family?
If not, don't bother trying.
>> Jeez.
>> That's what the website says.
So I love this.
I think that this is a smart move.
And it really does communicate to her voters that she is not going to be pressured into
conforming to the Democratic Party.
That she's gonna continue fighting for them.
And more importantly, she's gonna fight to get other progressives re-elected or elected
into Congress.
And that's so important.
>> Yeah, yeah, because she understands that we do need to be worried about the quantity
of members that are elected from the Democratic Party.
But also the quality, that matters too.
And I think one of the things that under currents is sort of hiding in this story is that supposedly
their great frustration is that she's raising all of this money, but they are not getting
it.
I think that they would like to get the money.
But I think their bigger frustration is that she's able to raise the money in the first
place.
>> Yeah.
>> I think all of them were thinking okay, you beat our guy, you got one over on us.
But we're gonna corrupt you.
You're gonna come in, and you're gonna start to learn how to play ball, the way we want
it to be played.
And she has refused to do that.
>> God, I love the defiance- >> And that's what's so frustrating.
>> I know, I love it, I love it, I love that defiance.
Cuz, understand the pressure to conform, understand the pressure to give them what they want.
And it's so hard to stand tall and say no.
>> At the risk of potentially losing committee assignments.
>> Yes.
>> And all of this stuff and she has been willing to do that since even before the day
that she was sworn in.
>> And real quick, just one more factoid for this story that I think is important to share.
You mentioned that they can't stand how good she is at fundraising.
>> Mm-hm.
>> She's real good at fundraising.
>> Yeah?
>> Yes, and remember she's not some corrupt politician that's taking money from shady
industries, corporations things like that.
She's very much in favor of drawing attention to corruption in politics.
So she raises money from small-dollar donors.
With that said, Ocasio-Cortez's sizable cash haul, $1.97 million in the fourth quarter,
just one quarter, of 2019.
And over $5.3 million for the entire year, is one of the largest revealed so far among
members of Congress.
Get it.
>> In her first year, and that's more than a number of people running on the national
stage for the presidential nomination.
Imagine what she'll raise when she too is running on that same stage.
>> So there's all sorts of rumors about what her political ambitions are.
I mean, you can speculate, we can have fun with that.
>> I will.
>> But she's awesome.
And I'm really glad that she is refusing to give the DCCC what they want because they
don't deserve it.
They don't support her, there's no reason why she should support them.