 I want to bring some attention to a lesser discussed portion of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's interview with Jeremy Scahill, because what she's saying here, I haven't heard many elected officials say this, but this point that she makes, it's a point that I've made, and it is incredibly important specifically for liberals. Because if they don't acknowledge what led to the rise of Donald Trump, then they're going to end up making the same mistakes again that will lead us to a Donald Trump 2.0. And what AOC says in this interview is key, because she's warning them if we don't make significant changes, specifically if Joe Biden doesn't make some really needed changes, we're going to find ourselves in the same predicament in another four to eight years. So as Brett Wilkins of Common Dreams explains, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a stern warning for President-elect Joe Biden about filling his cabinet with the types of war and Wall Street candidates that have come to characterize Democratic administrations over the past three decades. In an interview with the Intercepts Intercepted Podcast aired on Wednesday, host Jeremy Scahill asked Ocasio-Cortez what she thought of Biden hiring members of former President Barack Obama's administration from corporations, including Goldman Sachs and McKinsey. It's horrible, she replied. I think it's also part of a larger issue that we have right now, which is the Biden administration bringing back a lot of Obama appointees, which depending on where you are in the party, may sound nice, I guess. But I think what a lot of people fail to remember is that we now have a Biden administration that's bringing back a lot of Obama appointees. But when Obama was making appointments, he was bringing back a lot of Clinton appointees, she added. Biden has tapped former Obama officials, including Avril Haynes, for Director of National Intelligence, and Antony Blinken for Secretary of State, who played key roles in planning and executing militarist policies. Such picks and policies, admonished Ocasio-Cortez, are a huge reason why we got President Donald Trump in the first place. In addition to just the racism that was waiting to be reanimated in this country, there was just this extreme disdain for this money political establishment that rules Washington, she said. So what she's saying here is crucial, because if Joe Biden and liberals and the Democratic Party establishment does not heed her warnings here, we're going to get stuck in the same situation with either Donald Trump again in four to eight years or someone who's worse than Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump, he may be a fascist, he may be a far right extremist who has a cult following, but just individually speaking, he's not very effective as a political actor. Most of what he's been able to accomplish has been done because of folks like Mitch McConnell, Republicans who are pulling the levers of power for him. But alone, he's not that effective. But if you actually get someone in the executive branch who knows how to wield power, who's actually fascistic and really nefarious, that can be a really, really dangerous situation that we find ourselves in. The problem, however, is that as AOC makes this warning, I genuinely fear that Democrats don't care. And I say that because if you think through it individually speaking as just a lone Democrat in Congress, you're a centrist, you don't necessarily care about anything other than your career. Think through who is it more easier for you to have as president? Someone like Donald Trump who is a divisive figure who you can easily fundraise off of or a Democrat where you kind of actually have to put in work and prove to your constituents that you're fighting when you have power. I fear that Democrats don't care or would prefer a figure like Donald Trump because he really is someone who the Democratic Party's base feels inclined to rally against. And having this common enemy kind of brings people together, but when you don't have this common enemy, then the attention is on the party who has power. And a lot of Democrats don't want that. They'd rather just be sitting there keeping the seat in Congress that they occupy warm and do fuck all for their constituents because I think a lot of them are careerists and they don't actually care about policies. So what I want people to take away from this is that this warning is crucial, but it's not something that I think a lot of elected Democrats care about. But liberals, liberal voters in particular need to acknowledge that they have to put pressure on Joe Biden, don't just go back to brunch, don't be complacent because if he doesn't actually make substantial changes and improve the material conditions in this country, things are going to get bad. They're going to get worse. They're already bad, but they're going to continue to deteriorate. Because understand, the reason why we got Donald Trump is because people were so desperate. And when you reach a certain level of desperation, you become highly susceptible to radicalization. You'll believe anything. Any huckster or demagogue that comes along and tells you that they have the answer as to why you're experiencing all of these problems, why you're so poor, that resonates with people. You end up getting a predicament where we see this rise of extremism and white nationalism. And there's a reason why this isn't just happening in the United States. The United States, our politics isn't occurring in a vacuum. We're seeing the rise of fascists in other countries, Brazil, India, even in the UK and Canada as well. And if you don't actually meet the needs of people, we're going to continue to deal with this. Not saying that if we had like a socialist or even democratic socialist president and they did improve the lives of people materially in a concrete way that all of a sudden this radicalism and white nationalism would go away and racism would be solved, that's not how it works. But what I'm saying is that these situations, the material conditions, they exacerbate existing problems. They can use existing issues like racism and white nationalism and use that as a means of them like getting more power and consolidating power. So I really hope that folks listen to AOC. She's one of a few people who have made this point. And it's a really, really important point. You know, you hear a lot of leftists, such as myself and other podcast hosts make this point. So you already know this point. But unfortunately, this isn't common knowledge. Like a lot of folks think that because Biden is president, everything is copacetic. Everything's going to be OK now. But that's not the way that it works. If Biden fails, we may be in a worse state than we're in right now. And that really is horrifying to think about. So I truly hope that he takes even the most slightest action, you know, cancel some student debt. It should be all, you know, fully canceled, but cancel some of it. Do things to improve people's lives. Otherwise, nothing's going to change.