President Trump dialled up his racist attacks on four progressive members of the US Congress last week, telling them to ‘go back to their broken and crime-infested countries’. His tweets were directed at a group of Democrat congresswomen known as ‘the squad’ – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts – who all happen to be young women of colour.
Amid outrage, Trump then doubled down on his vicious tirade, saying these lawmakers hated America and falsely accusing Omar, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, of praising al-Qaeda. Days later, at a rally, he made no move to stop supporters targeting Omar with chants of, ‘Send her back’; this despite the fact she is an American citizen after coming to the US as a child refugee.
But the women of the squad fired back, using his xenophobic comments to renew calls to start impeachment proceedings. ‘You are angry because you don’t believe in an America where I represent [district] New York 14,’ Ocasio-Cortez told Trump. ‘You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us.’ Since entering office in January, the four women have shaken up the political establishment, electrified the activist wing of the Democratic Party and dominated headlines. But it is Ocasio-Cortez who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Trump administration and, at times, her own party.
I met her for the first time last year, before she was famous enough to be known by her initials, AOC, and shortly after she quit her post-college bartending job where she was known as Sandy. We met at a Queens diner on an April morning for an interview about her challenge to 10-term- incumbent Joe Crowley, one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and boss of the borough’s political machine. Crowley, a Wall Street-funded career politician and 56-year-old white man, had represented one of the most diverse communities in the country completely unchallenged for 20 years. He was also considered a likely successor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, de facto head of the Democratic Party. Ocasio-Cortez laid out her potential path to victory and explained the intricacies of New York politics to me over a plate of scrambled eggs and hash browns.
We talked about her life growing up in a working-class Puerto Rican family, juggling two to three jobs to help her family get by during the 2008 financial crisis, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (known as ICE, its immigration raids have sparked fear), and the role Wall Street played in Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. Two months later, she delivered one of the biggest political upsets of recent times, unseating Crowley before becoming the youngest congresswoman in history. But even more refreshing is the authenticity she has brought to Washington. Before even being sworn into office, Ocasio-Cortez protested with young climate activists who were holding a sit-in at Pelosi’s office, which is virtually unheard of, especially as a first act after being elected.
She speaks openly about the concentration of power within Congress and the corrupting influence of money from special interests, and is free to do so because she is beholden to no one. This quarter, Ocasio-Cortez raised $1.2m for her 2020 re-election campaign, 84% of which came from individual donations of $200 or less – showing her backers are mostly individuals, rather than big business. (Significantly, she raised nearly $130,000 in campaign funds in the days following Trump’s racist Twitterstorm.)
How has she done this? With more than 4.8 million followers on Twitter and 3.8 million on Instagram, Ocasio-Cortez has a social media following that eclipses any of her colleagues, including Democratic leaders and many of the 2020 presidential candidates. She had already been using her online platform to circumvent the press, which largely ignored her primary race against Crowley, to directly connect with voters and test out different messaging. She practises a transparency not seen before in US politics, using livestreams and Instagram stories to give followers a look behind-the-scenes at the inner workings of Congress. As well as explaining the mundane aspects of governing, she also streams herself making black bean soup, building Ikea furniture while drinking wine and eating popcorn, and answering questions from the thousands of followers who tune in for updates.
That day at the diner, it was immediately clear to me that the then 28-year-old was incredibly talented, charismatic and an ambitious activist. I couldn’t have known then what she would go on to do, or may do in the future – some commentators are already tipping her as the US’s first female President, although the constitution means she cannot run until she is 35. I asked her if she thought people were underestimating her. ‘Yeah, totally,’ she said. ‘But I’m OK with that. I think it’s kind of a good thing. The longer they underestimate me, the better off I am.'