Members of the famous Congressional ‘Squad’ are set to announce their support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), selecting socialist bona fides over gender solidarity.
Fox News reports that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) will appear with Sanders Saturday at an event touting Sanders’ return to the campaign trail following a heart attack, and that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), have signed on to issue their own official endorsements.
Omar’s endorsement was released Wednesday morning.
The Washington Post was the first to report that Omar and Tlaib would back the Vermont Senator over fellow female lawmaker, Elizabeth Warren, forgoing gender solidarity for a true commitment to socialist principles. Neither Washington Post, nor CNN, which reported the endorsements several hours later, were clear on whether Omar and Tlaib would appear with Sanders on Saturday alongside Ocasio-Cortez, however.
The Sanders campaign issued a statement early Wednesday touting Omar’s official seal of approval and quoting the Minnesota Representative at length.
“Bernie is leading a working class movement to defeat Donald Trump that transcends generation, ethnicity and geography,” Omar is quoted as saying, according to the Sanders campaign Twitter account. “I believe Bernie Sanders is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump in 2020.”
IT'S OFFICIAL: @IlhanMN has endorsed @BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/b0MK2Dbygc
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) October 16, 2019
Omar’s endorsement is no surprise. Omar and Sanders share a commitment to providing many government services free of charge and cancelling most remaining student loan debt owed to the government — a costly endeavor that Omar claims could be “paid for with a small tax on Wall Street speculation,” though it is not clear how even a large tax would provide the $1.6 trillion necessary to wipe all loans off the books completely, particularly when Omar’s colleague, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wants to tax the same group of people to pay for a $95 trillion Green New Deal.
Ocasio-Cortez has yet to formally endorse Bernie Sanders, but has tweeted approvingly of the Senators plans and defended Sanders against claims that his signature Medicare for All program might prove disasterous for Americans looking for improved health care options.
“Thank you!,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted to Sanders during Tuesday night’s debate. “There are too many plans out there that seem more interested in protecting corporate profits than protecting the lives of working Americans.”
Thank you! There are too many plans out there that seem more interested in protecting corporate profits than protecting the lives of working Americans.
We need #MedicareForAll, and we need it now. https://t.co/Te8c8g0tJS
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 16, 2019
She followed it up with a plea to “tax the rich” — something Sanders is keen on, even if he’s not clear about what might happen when the rich are no longer rich, or the rich move their money well out of reach of “President Sanders.”
The endorsements seem to fall in line with Sanders’ latest campaign strategy: appealing to “true” progressives to back his campaign over Elizabeth Warren’s, under the theory that Warren is actually a capitalist in socialist clothing. Upon returning to the campaign trail this week, Sanders attacked Warren’s socialist bona fides, pointing to several interviews Warren did in the dawning days of her presidential campaign, calling herself a “capitalist at heart,” and proclaiming her love for capitalist systems.
By endorsing Sanders over Warren, the “Squad” is sending the message that progressives backing a “new generation” of leadership should take principles over electability, even if that means defining a “new generation” as falling behind an 80-year-old career politician.