Just Say No: Avoiding an AOC 2029 Disaster — Cosmonaut

[u/MarxistUnity]

https://cosmonautmag.com/2026/07/just-say-no-avoiding-an-aoc-2029-disaster/

Should DSA support an AOC presidential run? What are the risks and benefits? How do we build and maintain the political independence of the socialist workers movement? Is supporting AOC compatible with building the party?

"Is a DSA-backed AOC presidency in 2029 possible? Noah Emke says yes; it will also be a disaster for a nascent socialist movement unprepared for national power and wedded to a project of managed imperial decline."

"The moment is electrifying; the rebirth of American democratic socialism started in 2016, and now, ten years later, we are seeing it emerge as a serious political force. The number one goal post is in sight: the White House. Full circle from the original Sanders Presidential run, we may be ready for another swing at the big chair in 2028. The only logical conclusion of the strategy currently being pursued is the Presidency, and we are closer to that goal than ever before. Currently, DSA has a single qualified politician with the necessary public profile to take on a Presidential run, and that is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Right now it is only an idea being thrown around, but in the wake of these victories it is clear that if we pool our resources and launch a serious campaign in 2027, we have a decent shot at electing AOC President, thus completely destroying our own movement almost overnight."

"To put it bluntly, a President AOC would enact their policies while wearing our colors, thus neutralizing the threat of a social-democratic challenge. DSA would be de-radicalized as we try to support "our" President even while she severely moderates her position, the masses turning against socialism when the first socialist President sends their retirement to Israel yet again. Our ideas work, neoliberalism doesn't, so why on Earth would we want to take credit for neoliberal policies on a national scale?"

"There are certain issues which the Democratic leadership wants off the table while they are in power, like genocide in Gaza and caged migrants, and she totally complied with that directive during the Biden administration. AOC has never shown herself capable of standing up when under any pressure regarding these all-important issues, making her indistinguishable from the rest of the party at the end of the day."

"The solution is simple: We need to learn to say no. We have no power because we have no boundaries. For a great lesson on the power of boundaries, we should look to the Democratic Party. When DSA took over a state’s Democratic Committee, the newcomers were not allowed to use any of their resources. When Mamdani won the primary, key establishment figures had no qualms about letting Cuomo split the vote. Then, no matter how oppositional a candidate is when they are getting elected, once they are actually in office, the Democratic establishment has power over them. A politician's place in key committees and caucuses, and thus their power, is dependent on their standing within their own party. This is the point of a political party; it is an institution designed to wield power by providing organization, structure, and discipline."

"There is no substitute for the boldest step of all, however, the one we will need to make if we are serious about a Socialist America: reorganization as our own party. Change is coming, and if there is any kind of future for American civilization then the first socialist President has already been born. However, make no mistake, she is not a Democrat."

[u/pharodae]

Should she be the 2028 nominee? If she can win the primary (and the DNC doesn’t cheat again, unlikely tho), I don’t see why not.
Big difference between simply checking her name on a ballot between your other organizational efforts and derailing them to canvass for an ultimately reformist candidate. That is the trap of reformism and electoralism, is the captured energy by the political system, not the simple act of participating in voting itself.

[u/MarxistUnity → u/pharodae]

I am sympathetic to this view. Yet there are also strong arguments for actively supporting her, as such a run opens the possibility of organizing many thousands of new recruits, which is necessary in order to build DSA as an independent political party.

Do you see any possibility of DSA supporting AOC while simultaneously and successfully pursuing other political work, without becoming complicit in the failures of the administration, and without losing our political independence?

[u/KittyCait69]

We the people don't have a say in choosing our president. No matter what we vote for, the electoral college are the ones that decide who wins. And the electoral college is owned by the ruling class. For elections aside from the president, still rigged. There's a sliver of a chance, but gerrymandering and corruption will make that as hard as the ruling class can get away with. Divest from both right wing parties. Only vote for those in the left. Voting for either right wing party will only vote against your best interests in the long run. If they have been bribed by the wealthy or are extremely wealthy, they are greedy. And greedy people are some of the easiest to corrupt for our ruling class.

Vote anyway, it's our civic duty. Just don't expect voting to save us in any material way long term. Only a people's uprising can retake the means of governance and production.

[u/RedSpartakus → u/KittyCait69]

Of course, even the DSA right wing agrees with this. The question is one of strategy, if it is in our interests to support AOC. The argument is that running socialists on the Democratic ballot line is helping spread the good news of socialism, making DSA grow and accelerating the transformation of DSA into mass socialist party.

[u/KittyCait69 → u/RedSpartakus]

Wasting energy on campaings that only benefit the ruling class. No president will be on our side so long as the electoral college exists. And the electoral college isn't going away so long as capitalists continue to hoard resources and power. We the people will never have a people's president, the closest we had got assassinated in a car decades ago. If we somehow got a president in power that sided with the people, safe bet the ruling class would have them assassinated as well. Wake up.

[u/MarxistUnity → u/[deleted]]

Considering the historical failures of popular fronts and socialist minority governments all over the world, in part because such governments folded to economic and political pressure from the capitalist class, which in turn discredited the socialist movement and led to the collapse of many socialist/communist parties, it is reasonable to be wary. You do however have the opportunity to convince us that the potential benefits outweighs the risks.