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AOC is gaining ground: Proof? Fox News steps up its attacks on the New York Rep. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-03

Fox News has two jobs. Promote MAGA and attack any rising Democrat. On Saturday, the Fox & Friends Weekend crew acknowledged that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is gaining national stature by trying to rip her down. Hecklers at AOC's Friday night town hall provided the grist for Fox's propaganda mill.

One of the three hosts, Charles Hurt, got the ball rolling by stating :

"But AOC is getting an earful from the left wing of her left-wing support."

He flips to a video of the event featuring a sole protestor who challenged AOC with the question:

"I'm a healthcare worker and I want to know what you're doing about the genocide in Gaza!" Adding: "You're not doing anything. Shame on you. You're a liar. You're a liar."

As executing foreign policy is an Executive function in the US — and all branches of government are under GOP control — I am not sure what AOC is supposed to do about it. But politics is hostile to logic. And Fox certainly isn't going to mention that Trump is the one encouraging genocide if the Palestinians don't pack up and leave this piece of their ancestral land.

(Aside: the Constitution does grant Congress the power to declare war and approve treaties, but that body's approach to foreign policy has long been "What he [the President] says.”)

Co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy warmed to the theme by saying she has been following AOC closely. Adding:

I'll occasionally go into her district. Interview people. See how she's doing. Her district is angry.

Really Rachel? No doubt there are some angry people in NY 14 — there are MAGAs even in the bluest districts. However, 69% of her constituents voted for AOC in 2024 — up from 63% in 2022. AOC increased her popularity at home while support for Democrats nationally remained flat .

Campos-Duffy also claimed that AOC's district was a hotbed of prostitution, with brothels lining the streets. And working girls turning tricks in front of children at "eight o'clock in the morning" as these young scholars are on their way to school. Why is everything reduced to sex by these perverts? (I think I answered my own question.)

Rachel then slammed AOC for absenteeism

"Meanwhile, she's off in Idaho on an oligarchy tour with Bernie Sanders."

To be accurate, Campos-Duffy should have said "anti-oligarchy tour." It is the rich people fluffers on the other side of the aisle who tour for the oligarchs.

Hurt didn't help by interrupting C-D to add that AOC had "huge crowds."

Campos Duffy played along. She added:

"And raising huge money, I think she raised in a few weeks, or months, $9.6 million. Quite remarkable"

If the reader has trouble deciding whether Campos-Duffy is extolling AOC or condemning her, I don't blame you. The Foxers want to hate her, but they can hide their admiration.

To buttress her attacks on the Congresswoman, Campos-Duffy also played clips from previous AOC events — two in 2022 and one in 2023 — in which Ocasio-Cortez was confronted by some argy-bargy at town halls. In one, a sole protestor yells some aggravation before being escorted out as the crowd roundly jeers him.

Yet this limited and quickly muted protest was enough for Campos-Duffy to declare that AOC was facing an insurrection from her core supporters. I wish I had a job where I could just make stuff up.

Further weakening her case, the Fox host admitted her material was dated. Nonetheless, she claimed that AOC, when faced with negativity, was a deer in the headlines.

She doesn't know what to do. Sometimes she dances. Sometimes she mocks the constituents and says, okay, okay, okay."

Unsurprisingly, the video did not match Rachel's rhetoric. AOC looked serene as she smiled while a few riled-up citizens tossed their brickbats. Also, AOC's 'dancing' was her sitting relaxed on the edge of the stage, swaying to the beat of the music. The explanation is obvious. If you view Trump's perverse and jerky hand and hip movements as 'dancing,' you will be confused by people who have grace and rhythm.

This lazy attempt to portray AOC's town hall as a disaster for the Representative was wishful thinking. It is a case of seeing what you want to see, presented by TV personalities who know their audience will believe what they are told over the evidence of their own eyes.

It is typical Fox. When an entire town hall audience takes a GOP Representative to task, the MAGA propaganda arm will categorize the universal opprobrium as the work of a few professional, out-of-town protestors on George Soros' payroll. When a few hecklers razz AOC, Fox assures their viewers that those critical voices are the tip of a spontaneous grassroots movement against the Representative.

But the outrage gas tank is running low. If you watch the video at this LINK , you will see two of the three Fox hosts doing their best to smear AOC — while the third sits idly by, waiting for his turn to spout nonsense. But their energy is low. They are checking the indignation boxes without passion.

They look as if all they are trying to do is meet the word count requirement on an essay assignment in a mandatory 101 intro course that holds little interest for them.

Sad.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/3/2320288/-AOC-is-gaining-ground-Proof-Fox-News-steps-up-its-attacks-on-the-New-York-Rep?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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