With the Biden administration in power, we have got to ask the big question- Who is in charge of the White House? Well, it is certainly not the 78 year old Joe Biden. He has just been propped up by the Democrats for grabbing political power. So, who is controlling the White House?
Initially, we thought House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in charge of the White House. Then, we thought that Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States of America is running the show. But now, it turns out that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the leader of American far-left thinking, is the one leading the White House. AOC’s power in the US has risen manifold since the advent of the Biden administration especially in handling the border crisis.
Turn-by-turn, AOC has managed to prevail upon all big leaders- Biden, Harris and Pelosi.
AOC’s ability to bend Biden has been the most manifest characteristic of her rising influence. She even had Biden reverse his order on the refugee cap. On Friday, Biden had signed an emergency determination that retained the 15,000 refugee cap introduced by former US President Donald Trump.
However, the progressives in Democratic Party led by AOC got agitated and reminded Biden of his February promise to raise the cap to 125,000 for the next fiscal year. “Completely and utterly unacceptable,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. The Democratic lawmaker added, “Biden promised to welcome immigrants, and people voted for him based on that promise.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s outrage was followed by another announcement from the White House declaring that Biden would instead lift the refugee cap by the fifteenth of next month. AOC rejoiced and even declared triumph, by tweeting, “This is a testament to the power that people’s movements, community advocates, & progressive coalitions have built.”
AOC’s agenda against US Vice President Kamala Harris has been more subtle yet equally effective. Kamala was given the privilege of handling the border crisis, but AOC, by questioning the order directly, in many ways, undermined Harris.
Yet, Cortez doesn’t tolerate any plans to reduce the incoming surge of illegal immigrants into the United States of America. She has even put Kamala Harris in a fix by slamming the order to control the border surge.
AOC said, “This is not a surge. These are children, and they are not insurgents, and we are not being invaded. Which, by the way, is a white supremacist philosophy. The idea that if another is coming in the population, that this is an invasion of who we are.”
Now, if Kamala stays silent, she takes the blame for not doing justice to her role as in charge of the ongoing border crisis. But if she does try to control the immigrant surge, AOC and other far-left progressives in the Democratic Party will slam her and describe her as racist.
Lastly, in AOC’s fights with Pelosi, the latter clearly seems to be the loser. It is known that Pelosi and AOC share a tense relationship. The House Speaker never got along well with the Squad, a group of freshmen Democrat lawmakers led by AOC who profess left extremism in American politics.
Pelosi has tried to school AOC and the Squad several times. According to excerpts of the book written by award-winning journalist Susan Page, Pelosi adopted a “child-like tone” when discussing Ocasio-Cortez and gave the following advice to members of the Squad: “You’re not a one-person show. This is the Congress of the United States.”
Read More: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: The dumbest Democrat and the most underperforming Congresswoman
AOC has been able to mobilise Squad as an emerging bloc against Pelosi, and this seemingly gets the House Speaker worked up. After the members of Squad became the only Democrat lawmakers to vote against an immigration bill backed by Pelosi, the House Speaker sought to dismiss their opposition.
Pelosi told NYT, “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world.” She added, “But they don’t have any following. They’re four people, and that’s how many votes they got.”
To hit back, AOC’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti slammed “New Southern Democrats,” a reference to the segregationists who face infamy for blocking civil rights legislation. Chakrabarti wrote, “They certainly seem hell-bent to do to black and brown people today what the old Southern Democrats did in the 40s.” This, of course, gave us a glimpse into AOC’s strategy of depicting Pelosi as anti-progressive or even a supporter of White supremacism.
Cortez wins more often than not in her battles with Pelosi. As such, AOC seems to be the one in control of the White House courtesy of her far-left and progressive propaganda.