The position puts her at odds with some on the left, such as Rep. Ro Khanna, another potential 2028 contender, who said he wants to find “common ground” with people like Greene.
In a conversation Friday at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics moderated by David Axelrod, the onetime political strategist to President Barack Obama, a student asked Ocasio-Cortez whether she stood by past remarks that there were “legitimate white supremacist sympathizers at the core of the House of Representatives caucus” and, if so, why she worked with some of them.
Ocasio-Cortez did stand by them and said she wasn’t scared of reaching across the aisle, holding up her work with Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. But she set a clear boundary.
“I personally do not trust someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a proven bigot and antisemite, on the issue of what is good for Gazans and Israelis,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I don’t think it benefits our movement in that instance to align the left with white nationalists. I don’t think it serves us.”
Republicans who acknowledge the war in Iran is wrong are moving to our position. We won’t trust them to lead us, but if they have influence over their party, then I think it’s beneficial to show that to their supporters and get them on the side against genocide, illegal wars, and war crimes. I believe Ro Khana realizes this is an issue that can unite the country in the same way the Epstein files has. If we are winning over the right and bringing them to sanity on a single, gigantic issue, that is a good thing.