AOC Calls Trump Authoritarian, Says National Guard Stuck Doing Silly Tasks

AOC Calls Trump Authoritarian, Says National Guard Stuck Doing Silly Tasks

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) went on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes last night and delivered another one of her dramatic speeches — heavy on scare tactics, short on facts, and scripted to rile up the MSNBC crowd. She tried to smear Donald Trump and Republicans as “authoritarians” while pretending Democrats are the ones standing guard over democracy.

AOC said:

“I think there's two things that are happening at once and this is something that's very important for people to understand. One, there absolutely is an unprecedented abusive power, destruction of norms, erosion of our government and our democracy in order to prop up an authoritarian style of governance that is happening. However, they are weaker than they look. And it is important that we remember that because what they rely on is the impression of power, the perception of inevitability in us giving up in advance to say, oh, what's gonna happen if I stand up? Etcetera, nothing's gonna happen. They rely on that perception of inevitability and power so that people comply in advance and acquiesce in advance and give up in advance. And at the end of the day, Donald Trump is at record levels of unpopularity in his tenure. The Republican House is at record levels of unpopularity. They are underwater across the board and they know it. And that is causing them to double down in public, but it is backfiring.

That is why whether it's a shutdown, whether it's all of this, they want us to blink first. And we have too much to save. Protecting people is too important a task for us to give up before anything even starts. So they may want to send people in, but these National Guardsmen do not wanna be turned against their fellow Americans. We're seeing this here in Washington DC. It is an insult Donald Trump is in, it is insulting the service members of this country by, by putting them on these silly tasks that they themselves do not want to be enforcing.And so we have to understand that standing up matters, that our voice matters, to not give in to the cynicism because that is what they rely on in order to perpetuate this idea that they are that that, that they have total immunity from consequence. They will experience the consequences of this..."

AOC calls Trump “authoritarian” yet elections are still taking place, the courts are still functioning, Congress is still legislating — even during shutdown fights — and the press is still attacking Trump every single day. That’s not authoritarianism — that’s democracy. Meanwhile, AOC is the one aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, pushing policies that give government sweeping control over the economy, healthcare, and energy. She and the Democrats pretend they’re saving democracy, but in practice they are the socialists and communists aligned with authoritarianism. The truth is simple: Republicans and Trump are carrying out the will of the voters in his second term, and AOC just doesn’t like it.

She also claimed Trump and Republicans are at “record levels of unpopularity.” The latest polls put Trump in the low 40s — not record lows, and not unusual for a sitting president. And Republicans are polling better than Democrats overall: RealClearPolling averages show the GOP with about 42% favorability, compared to Democrats sinking to around 37% — their lowest in 30 years. And let’s not forget Biden: his approval bottomed out at 36% in Gallup, and even hit 34% in a Marquette poll. If AOC wants to talk about unpopularity, she should start with her own party, which the American people have clearly turned against after years of open borders, reckless spending, tyrannical overreach, and failed policies.

Her attack on the National Guard is just as dishonest. She said Guardsmen do not want to be turned against their fellow Americans and that deploying them is an insult. Right now in Washington, D.C., National Guard troops are doing real work: patrolling streets, helping secure federal buildings, monitoring protests, and providing backup to law enforcement during emergencies. They’ve also been tasked with traffic control and facility protection under Title 32 authority. These are not ‘silly tasks’ — they are essential missions to keep the capital safe. If AOC really wants to talk about silly tasks, she should look at Biden, who tied up Border Patrol agents with paperwork, water distribution, and babysitting illegal immigrants instead of letting them actually secure the border.

And then, like always, she tried to finish with a pep talk:

“But we have to be the consequence, which is why we have to stand tall right now alongside everyday Americans who want us to be standing up right now as well.”

It sounds dramatic, but it doesn’t mean anything. Democrats had their four years under Biden, and their record speaks for itself: inflation, border chaos, rising crime, and foreign policy disasters. Now Trump is back in the White House, elected by the American people, and AOC still tries to scare the country with empty talk of “authoritarianism.”

In reality, the only ones eroding democracy are the Democrats who censor speech, weaponize government, and attack their opponents with lawfare. AOC can cry “authoritarian” all she wants, but the American people already saw through it — and that’s why Trump is president again.