There are a few Democrats on the short list for becoming the next Bernie Sanders, a candidate that was able to mobilize an entire generation while running for president, twice. There’s Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom, Ro Khanna, and, most obvious but least likely, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aka AOC.
Amie Parnes, senior correspondent for The Hill newspaper in Washington covering the Biden White House and national politics, joined The New Abnormal podcast to talk through this list of Democratic contenders with host Andy Levy, and discuss why they would or wouldn’t be fit for the job of Bernie’s protégé, as well as why the New York congresswoman made the list—with a grain of salt.
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“If you took Bernie and turned him into a brown woman, you would expect it to just drive Republicans absolutely insane,” jokes Andy.
“It has and it will continue to, but, I don’t know. She’s done really, really well obviously, and has a huge, huge, huge following and has been able to do things that so many other Democrats haven’t been able to do. But I had to research like when she’ll actually be of age to run and it’s on Inauguration Day,” says Parnes, who recently reported a piece on this alongside colleague Hanna Trudo (a former Daily Beast reporter.)
But, she adds: “I think AOC is sort of, kind of on our list, but is also an eye roll for a lot of people. That would never happen so soon. Even though a lot of people think that [the Democratic Party] is leaning more left, I think when you talk to people they obviously say that the moderate lane is how you win…. The Squad will come up obviously and be the next generation, but I think they have kind of a lot to prove to people. I think the Democratic party in general and the progressive wing has to do a better job of kind of grooming these people to kind of come up.”
Filmmaker Andy Ostroy, who hosts the podcast The Back Room, also joins the pod and plays a little game of Sophie’s Choice with Andy Levy: Would people rather see Trump in jail for the rest of his life or Fox News shut down forever?
Plus, he shares what it felt like to interview the killer of his late wife, actress Adrienne Shelly, who was murdered in her apartment in 2006, as well as his take on said killer being an undocumented immigrant. It’s not what you expect.
Listen to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
