Cortez And Bailey

Sophomore Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aka AOC, aka the leader of 'The Squad,' aka Bernie Sanders' heir-apparent, lobbed one of her trademark incendiary comments last week, at a Democratic Socialists of America event in Austin:

I don’t believe that a child should be in a cage on our border, and I don’t believe a child should be in a cage in the West Bank.

At hand we have an object lesson in understanding how AOC operates, the 'method to her madness,' and a warning to all those who dismiss her as stupid or vapid or what have you. Her statement, a classic whataboutism and equivalency, was a sop to some pro-Palestine hecklers, and fully in keeping with the Squad's not-even-slightly-veiled disdain for all things Israel. She, of course, infuriated Jewish leaders in America, including some in her Congressional district.

Called out on it, her office offered up a clarifying statement.

It's a script that she has followed since before she even got elected: Put forth a emotion-laced and hyperbolic exaggeration that nevertheless contains a small nugget of "truth" to enable a motivated loyalist to reject accusations of her lying, then have that nugget presented afterward.

It's also a script that long predates her. Known as a motte-and-bailey fantasy, it involves the conflation of "two positions that share similarities, one modest and easy to defend (the "motte") and one much more controversial (the "bailey"), and is named after a medieval fortification strategy.

Ocasio-Cortez has combined the motte-and-bailey with a reverse ad hominem, wherein she cranks out high dudgeon about her rebutters' bigotry, and plays the oppressed Latina for all its worth:

Name Calling Fallacy: A variety of the "Ad Hominem" argument. The dangerous fallacy that, simply because of who one is or is alleged to be, any and all arguments, disagreements or objections against one's standpoint or actions are automatically racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, bigoted, discriminatory or hateful.

Her loyalists eat it up, and she's parlayed these tactic into a position of outsize influence on the national political stage. She's also either learned or was born with a vital skill in modern politics: Never apologize, never back down, never go on the defensive. Counterattack, always, and don't be afraid to 'cheat.'

In such behavior, she is much like Trump, whose political instincts in playing to his base were formidable enough to help him overcome a broad and crowded field of Presidential aspirants and achieve the White House, despite countless intellectual and temperamental failings. There’s an intuitive proficiency in both of them that isn’t easily taught, and can be hard to negate.

The first step in combating rhetorical stunts such as these is learning to recognize them for what they are, but that's not to say that these tactics aren't effective. They obviously work, and have worked, throughout history.

Why delve into them here?

It’s a warning not to underestimate AOC.

Especially given the deeply sobering future glimpse offered by NY Post columnist Miranda Devine today. It’s increasingly clear that the Untethered Orange Id is planning to make another run at the White House. A betting man would lay good odds that Biden doesn’t run for re-election, meaning that the Dems will have a primary. Their “bench” consists of a Vice President who has made herself politically radioactive, a Peter Principle Transportation Secretary, a passel of “what, exactly, have you accomplished?” retreads, the soulless, immoral harridan whom Trump beat in 2016…

and the heir presumptive to Bernie Sanders’ truckloads of useful idiots.

AOC turns 35 in October 2024, meaning she’d be eligible for the Presidency next election.

She’s colossally wrong on policy, and despite her degree in the matter, economics appears to be beyond her ken. Her socialistic ways are a recipe for economic disaster and human misery, but being wrong is of little relevance in politics. She’s also never actually run any enterprise of merit in her life.

However, she is an incredibly canny political operator. Dismiss her at your peril.