Ryan Grim Exposes AIPAC's Failed Attempt to BRIBE Ocasio-Cortez with $100,000

we recently learned that APAC is planning to spend more than 100 million to unseed Progressive members of Congress and that process is already well underway and we're going to talk about that but first I want to talk about a revelation from Ryan Grim's new book that gives us some insight into why APAC hates members of the squad and Alexandria oazo Cortez so much and spoiler alert it's because they couldn't be bought quote while in Kansas the campaign got its first taste of what Washington was going to be like a representative of APAC called Corbin Trent and told him there was $100,000 ready to be handed over to oazo Cortez to quote start a conversation with the organization with much more than that to come Shak rardy and AOC both told me they were shocked at the offer the campaign was flush with cash and it was rejected out of hand quote I was expecting the corruption to be much more subtle Trent recalled this was basically a bag filled with cash now this attempt to bribe AOC came after her 2018 appearance on PBS's firing line with Margaret Hoover where she criticized Israel's occupation but admitted that she wasn't an expert on the issue and still needed to learn more now that interview sparked controversy specifically because she dared to utter the phrase occupation when referring to Israel's occupation but let's go back and watch what she said you in the campaign made one tweet or made one statement that referred to um a a killing Israeli soldiers of civilians in Gaza and called it a massacre which became a little bit controversial but I haven't seen anywhere what is your position on Israel well I believe absolutely in Israel's right to exist I am a proponent of a two-state solution um and for me it's not it's this is not a referendum I think on the state of Israel for me the lens through which I saw this incident as an activist as an organizer if 60 people were killed in Ferguson Missouri if 60 people were killed in the South Bronx unarmed 60 people were killed in in Puerto Rico I just looked at that incident more through uh through just as an incident and to me it would just be completely unacceptable if that happened on our Shores but uh I am of course the the dynamic there in terms of geopolitics and the war in the midd East is very different than people expressing their First Amendment right to protest well yeah yes but I also think that what people are starting to see at least in in the occupation uh of of Palestine is um just an an increasing crisis of humanitarian condition and that to me is just where I tend to come from on this issue you Ed the term the occupation of Palestine what did you mean by that oh um I think it what I meant is like the the settlements that are increasing in some of these areas and and places where um where Palestinians are experiencing uh difficulty in access to uh their housing and homes do you think you can expand on that yeah I mean I think I'd also just I I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue you know for me I'm a firm believer in uh in finding a a two-state solution in this issue and um I'm happy to sit down with leaders on both of this is on both of these for me I just look at at things through a human rights lens what do you mean by occupation I mean what do you mean by what do I mean by occupation it's pretty self-explanatory don't you think Margaret but I mean like a lot of media punded she is being purposefully obus she knows what AOC is referring to because it's pretty obvious now regardless APAC saw that and they thought you know what rather than immediately making an enemy out of her what if we try to bribe and brainwash her and instead and that's exactly what they tried to do HuffPost continues HuffPost followed up with Trent who confirmed his memory of what occurred quote the implication was that her positions could be repaired with conversations that her positions were based on a lack of information and lack of proximity to enough of a variety of people Trent recalled but oazo Cortez saw APAC is one of the special interests whose influence she had run to diminish and by that time she was already on her way to being an online fundraising Powerhouse thanks to her Grassroots pyot Shak rardy who had become the lawmaker's chief of staff likewise confirmed his memory of when Trent brought it up APAC denied to huff post that any of its Representatives reached out to Ocasio Cortez's team this way quote this is the first time APAC is ever hearing of this story said Marsha Whitman spokesperson for APAC to the extent it ever happened it did not involve APAC yes because why would APAC of all organizations ever lie it's not like they have a history of being dishonest and lying so uh I'm sure they're being perfectly honest and truthful here that's definitely the case now like all members of Congress I have my criticisms and disagreements with members of the squad but I really admire AOC and other progressives for resisting Apex bribes and you shouldn't have to give someone credit for denying corruption and rejecting it but when that's the Norman DC it's nice to at least see some members of Congress go against the grain even if they know they're losing out on a lot of money and they're inevitably going to see money being spent against them now this explains why so many members of Congress are afraid to criticize Israel it's because APAC calls and they have to answer otherwise their political career may be shortlived now take Shri thodar for example so on December 5th he tweeted I can no longer stay silent on the genocide taking place in Palestine Israel has paid off politicians for far too long I know this means I'll lose APAC financial support but I don't need it we need to come together to free Palestine from from the terrorist state of Israel now at first glance you might think wow this is somebody who finally has the courage to do the right thing and condemn ape except uh he deleted that tweet and after he seemingly released that amazing statement well he followed up by saying I was just I was just hacked un [ __ ] believable and a misleading tweet was sent from my account I have deleted the tweet and taken steps to secure my account my official statement on Israel is below now I'm not going to read the whole statement but he basically defends Israel uncritically and denounces the idea of conditioning Aid to them because God forbid people think you're against genocide even for a second that would be terrible now look I don't know if he was actually hacked or if an aid posted that on his behalf or if he momentarily was courageous enough to post that himself and condemn Israel before changing his mind I don't know but that right there that coward behavior is the Norman DC coward politicians being complicit with genocide is just kind of what we've come to expect and they refuse to criticize Israel under any circumstance and in fact they will reiterate that Israel is good despite the war crimes that they're committing and they can say that because they don't even acknowledge the existence of war crimes in the first place case in point there are some real questions about what's happening on the ground in Gaza about the really extraordinary civilian death toll that has happened as a result of this war do you believe that anything that Israel has done in these 6 weeks of fighting has amounted to a war crime of course not of of course not stunning right but again this is the power of lobbying in action it turns politicians into drones it turns them into NPCs and their dialogue tree is limited what they can say and can't say is going to be determined by the interest groups who are funding them it's the same way that the NRA buys Republican complicity and gun violence APAC does the same thing the Israel Lobby does the same thing to both Democrats and Republicans they buy complicity and sometimes enthusiastic support when it comes to Republicans in their genocide of Gaza now if you go against the grain you'll be punished for it which is why so few members of Congress do this and that's what's happening to Jamal Bowman he went against the grain and as 53h Jeffrey Skelly reports Westchester co-executive George laimer has filed to run against Jamal Bowman in New York's 16th Congressional District Democratic Party primary next year Bowman is definitely one of the more endangered Squad members although midcycle redistricting could affect things now Alex sammon of slate reacted to the news writing there it is after weeks of unnecessary Heming and hawing during which he stockpiled an extra helping of cash from the Israel Lobby George Vladimir is challenging Jamal Bowman aiming to replace one of the party's rising stars as a 70-year-old white freshman Congressman now unsurprisingly this news comes after ladimer returned from a trip to Israel and common dreams adds ladimer suggested to the Washington Post early last month that if he ran against Bowman it might be that this becomes a proxy argument between the left and the farle he later told Politico that Israel would be a big issue but not the whole issue and his campaign would focus on his record as the most Progressive County official in the state sure and I'm sure you'll all be totally surprised to learn that ladimer does not support a ceasefire Jamal Bowman does jocking right now the sad part is that this is actually going to be a heated primary and next to Ilan AR I think that Jamal Bowman is probably the next person in the most danger of losing his seat and common dreams adds Bowman is the fourth Squad member to face a serious primary Challenger for 2024 joining Representatives Cory Bush summer Lee and ilhan Omar they are all among the eight progressives who in October voted against the bipartisan house resolution expressing unconditional support for Israel's government as it waged war on Gaza now on top of that members of the squad were among just 14 members of the House of Representatives to vote against a fascist sponsored resolution equating anti-zionism with anti-Semitism this is why APAC hates them so much now AOC is already putting in the work to save her embattled colleagues and sent out a fundraising email on behalf of Jamaal Bowman letting people know that apex's $100 million effort to defeat members of the squad is already underway so I'm really glad to see her have his back already and I assume that members of the squad will continue to stand in solidarity with one another because that's really the only chance that they have at thwarting this attempt by APAC to syn all of their political careers now in an interview with medy Hassan about his book Ryan Grim explains how these attacks by APAC and this effort has kind of reinvigorated members of the squad and they're now motivated to fight back and they're not going to take this lying down and other Progressive organizations are trying to figure out some way to stop APAC from being successful here uh you say in the book and you talk a great deal in the book and it's very Timely given the war in Gaza how APAC has targeted members of the squad over their Pro Palestinian views their anti-israeli views as early back as 2021 when they denounced Israel's bombing of Gaza back then there's now this reported hundred million push to primary them because of their call for a ceasefire what's their reaction been to this Push by APAC so Justice Democrats uh has I think become reinvigorated Justice Democrats is the organization that kind of was SP W by the staffers from the first Bernie Sanders campaign you they they you know recruited and supported a lot of the a lot of the squad they supported all the squad recruited some of them and have continued to you know elect further Squad members since they've been a bit in Retreat uh in in recent years both in terms of fundraising Staffing profile but I think this you know there's a there's a phrase that you know nothing focuses the mind like The Hangman's noose and you know the the question has been called by APAC you know the the the threat is out there that there's like you said a $100 million is going to be spent to purge the party of of critics of Israel and so they the only choice is to organize and and fight back and from my understanding there is a a broad-based uh effort underway with a broad Coalition of progressive groups to figure out how uh they can push back against this this storm of money that they know is coming the next primary ccle so look I'm glad to know that Progressive groups are forming a plan because that's the only way to defeat this serious threat and look to be real in 2024 we could lose one if not multiple members of the squad that's a real possibility I don't want to be too Doomer but I'm just being real with you all so what we need to do is support them in any way we possibly can if you live in one of their districts consider signing up to volunteer and if you don't live in one of their their districts then send them a couple of bucks if you have it the squad is by no means perfect no politician is but they are by far the most Progressive members of Congress we've had in my lifetime and losing them would be a huge step backwards for the left so we need to defend the gains that we've made and that includes protecting members of the squad from these primary challenges funded by [Music] APAC

Channel: The Humanist Report

Views: 51,328

Keywords: aoc, ocasio cortez, ocasio-cortez, alexandria ocasio-cortez, AIPAC, israel lobby, dmfi, jamaal bowman, 2024 elections, primary challenge, aoc best moments, aipac 2023, ryan grim, breaking news, politics, the humanist report

Id: JMQa9mWTceY

Length: 13min 37sec (817 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2023