Where is AOC? The presidential election is just two weeks away and is currently consuming the entirety of the media oxygen in the country. Two names have a stranglehold over the national conversation. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, naturally. Household names that are relevant to the news cycle and that typically inform the national conversation have been relegated to the sidelines.

People like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, who has been a prominent voice in progressive politics for years, have been relatively quiet of late.

And when we do hear from the likes of AOC, like this week, it seems to be through the prism of the two names dominating the national conversation. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

AOC in the News

AOC, who supports Harris’s bid for the presidency, made some headlines last week for her criticism of Trump’s McDonald’s visit.

“You’ve got Donald Trump putting on a little McDonald’s costume because he thinks that’s what people do,” AOC said during an event with the United Auto Workers (UAW) last Monday. “They’re not trying to empathize with us. They are making fun of us. Donald Trump thinks that people who work at McDonald’s are a joke.”

For the record, I have worked plenty of food service jobs and did not get the impression that Trump was making fun of me. The McDonald’s stop was a political ploy, but I did not feel belittled. I digress.

That AOC’s opinion on the McDonald's visit is getting headlines speaks to her prominence. But the headlines also reinforce how Harris/Trump-centric everything is right now. AOC also took the time to criticize Elon Musk, who is in AOC’s crosshairs because of his association with Trump.

“We see Elon Musk coming in here. He’s doing these little contests where he’s promising people a million dollars in some kind of lottery giveaway if they sign up for his list,” AOC said. “You have a billionaire just dangling a million bucks to those of us and many of us who are struggling to make ends meet if they dance for him…[Elon] thinks that dangling money in front of a working person is a cute thing to do.”

Again, for the record, I am a working person and would have no objection to Elon dangling money in front of me. Oh, and if you haven’t already, take a look at this video, featuring AOC and Elon, which went viral on social media last year.

Anyway, the point is that American politics is about two people right now. Even at the local level, the conversation has been nationalized. Local politics, of course, are more impactful to their communities than national elections. Yet, much of local politics is filtered through the national political prism, the Harris-Trump dichotomy, if considered at all.

It’s not healthy for our discourse, our politics, or our resultant policies.  

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

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