Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

According to a recent poll of 1,521 registered voters released Tuesday by The Argument/Verasight, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) (D-NY) led Vice President J.D. Vance by two points.  In the latest AtlasIntel poll, 26 percent of Democratic voters said they would support a presidential run by Ocasio-Cortez. The Hill, a political publication, described AOC as “simply the most exciting figure in Democratic politics.” I’m not sure if they were talking about her body type (which is great if compared to Nancy Pelosi’s figure) or as a politically viable candidate.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I don’t seem to understand the fascination with someone who has made more errors than the 1962 New York Mets.  This is a woman, aptly described by Senator John Kennedy (R-La), the following way, “I think she’s the reason there are directions on a shampoo bottle.”  The always colorful Kennedy went on to say that the best way of dealing with her is to “let her speak.”

So what is the truth about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?  Is she the leading contender to carry the hopes and dreams of faithful Democrats into the White House in 2028 or a gaffe machine who is her own worst enemy when a microphone is put into her hands?

Let’s take a brief look at some of the statements this leading democratic presidential candidate has made, and you be the judge of her competence to be the leader of the free world.

One of my favorite quotes was something that any mediocre eighth-grade student would know and something every member of Congress should have known, which involves the 3 branches of government. She said, on a video call with Justice Democrats, “If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress — uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House.”  Despite her numerous complaints about the Supreme Court, she failed to realize that the Senate and House are part of 1 branch, the legislative; the Presidency is the executive branch, and the Supreme Court makes up the judiciary branch of the U.S. government.

Snuga (https://snugfam.com/top-25-aoc-dumbest-quotes-that-went-viral-and-sparked-endless-debates/)   listed 25 AOC Dumbest Quotes that went viral, and here are some of my favorites:

1. “We need to invent technology that’s never even been invented yet.”
2. “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family.” (2018 PBS Interview)
3. On The Green New Deal… “we set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero emissions, in 10 years because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.”
4. ‘” Pentagon accounting errors… $21 trillion.”
5. “We look at what happened in Venezuela, for example, it is not a remark on who Maduro was as a leader. He canceled elections, he was an anti-democratic leader, that doesn’t mean that we can kidnap a head of state and engage in acts of war just because the nation is below the equator.” (Venezuela is above the equator)

Her gaffes at the Munich Security Conference were on full display when she paused for 20 seconds when asked what the U.S. should do if China were to move against Taiwan.  Then following it up with a word salad that would make Kamala Harris proud, “This is, of course, a, a very long-standing, policy of the United States, and I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure that we never get to that point, and we want to make sure that we are moving in all of our economic research and our global positions to avoid any such confrontation and for that question to even arise.”

Recently, she claimed no one can earn a billion dollars and gave her own version of the American Revolutionary War, claiming that it was a fight against billionaires.  If she had studied history, perhaps she’d have realized that rich white men put their fortunes at risk to fight a revolution that wasn’t against billionaires; it was against an oppressive monarchy that forced them to pay taxes without representation.

The self-described democratic socialist was once criticized for a $260 haircut, to which she dismissed critics by saying, “… because if you self-describe as a ‘democratic socialist,’ you must wash your hair in a river and brush it with a stick, apparently.” When criticized for flying on a high-emission private jet as part of her “Fighting the Oligarchy” tour with Bernie Sanders, which racked up an estimated $77,000 tab for a 5-hour flight,  AOC’s cohort, Sanders, reacted to criticism by saying, “You think I’m gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United… while 30,000 people are waiting? That’s the only way to get around. No apologies for that. That’s what campaign travel is about. We’ve done it in the past. We’re gonna do it in the future.”

What has she achieved for her district as a legislator?  According to an April 2026 report by SearchLegalClarity, since joining Congress in 2019, “She has not had a major standalone bill she authored signed into law… … her concrete legislative wins come primarily through amendments attached to must-pass spending bills and through coalition support for broader legislation led by other members.”  In other words, 7 years in office and very little to show for it.  Her push for the Green New Deal was a complete failure.  Her lack of legislative accomplishments might be excused for someone who was more of a low-key representative, but for this democratic shining star, her popularity appears to be more about style than substance.

As conservative pundits have a field day with each gaffe, one must ask the question of why AOC would even be considered as a potential president, let alone someone who is viewed as a top contender for the presidential nomination in 2028.  Personally, I would not feel confident in the ex-bartender getting the ingredients right in making a rum and Coke.

Each time AOC speaks (quite often with a variety of hyperbolic accents to appeal to diverse audiences), it’s a coin flip regarding whether she will say something stupid or false.  Her egregious knowledge of geography, economics (she should ask for her money back since that was her college major), history, or the Constitution illustrates someone who was either absent a lot when things were taught, or merely (as President Trump would say) a person of low I.Q.

The Good News: On Instagram, in 2019, she made the claim that the world is going to end in 12 years, so if she’s elected in 2028, it won’t matter because how much damage can she do before the world ends in 2031, according to her prediction?

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Michael Matteo

Michael Matteo is an educator, produced playwright and screenwriter. He has written or co-written 4 books including one of the first jokebooks to make fun of political correctness.He owned a business for 19 years, and has been teaching for over 30 years.Currently he lives and works as head of the humanities department at private, international school in Chengdu, China. Michael's latest published effort is a dystopian novel titled: It Began With A Whisper

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