Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was plucked from bartending obscurity and launched into the House of Representatives by the Justice Democrats.
One of the group’s co-founders, Saikat Chakrabart, became her handler chief of staff . . . and proceeded to toss one fire bomb after another among his charge’s new colleagues on the hill. And now he’s out as of Friday.
Another of Ocasio-Cortez’s top staffers is also leaving her office, but Corbin Trent, her current communications director, is simply moving back over to her reelection campaign.
Two of Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez’s top staffers are leaving her office.Saikat Chakrabarti, her chief of staff, and Corbin Trent, her director of communications — who, through their work with Justice Democrats, have been alongside Ocasio-Cortez since her primary run — will leave the lawmaker’s office. Chakrabarti will go to New Consensus, a nonprofit focused on climate issues and promoting the Green New Deal. Trent will direct communications on Ocasio-Cortez’s 2020 campaign, the same role he played during her first congressional run.. . . . Chakrabarti’s last day is Friday, August 2, and Trent’s transition timeline is still unclear, Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. Trent told The Intercept he expects to continue serving as spokesperson through the end of August. Trent, who has been directing communications for the Ocasio-Cortez campaign part time since 2018, will now do so full time. Ariel Eckblad, Ocasio-Cortez’s legislative director, will take over as chief of staff.
Chakrabarti’s tenure with Ocasio-Cortez has been fraught with scandal and numerous unforced errors, including admitting that the Green New Deal is not about climate change at all.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti admitted recently that the true motivation behind introducing the Green New Deal is to overhaul the “entire economy.”Chakrabarti said that addressing climate change was not Ocasio-Cortez’s top priority in proposing the Green New Deal during a meeting with Washington governor Jay Inslee.“The interesting thing about the Green New Deal, is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all,” Chakrabarti said to Inslee’s climate director, Sam Ricketts, according to a Washington Post reporter who attended the meeting for a profile published Wednesday.“Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing,” he added.
This plan to destroy our economy was played out in the loony Green New Deal cartoon video that Ocasio-Cortez released earlier this year and that features as Chakrabarti’s pinned tweet as of this writing.
Chakrabarti and Trent’s aggressive tactics often made life harder for Ocasio-Cortez in Washington.Chakrabarti helped spark the rift between Ocasio-Cortez and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others when he likened moderate Democrats to “new southern Democrats” in a tweet — in effect calling them racists.He particularly targeted moderate Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat from a formerly red Kansas district who is one of the two Native American women serving in Congress.Chakrabarti said Davids voted in a way that helped “enable a racist system” when she voted in favor of a bill that would provide southern border relief.The tweet was deleted but the damage was done.. . . . Chakrabarti also regularly tweeted criticism of Pelosi, who sat down with Ocasio-Cortez last Friday to clear the air. In a closed-door caucus meeting, the speaker had urged the socially savvy freshman to stop tweeting about other House Dems.
While little is likely to change in Ocasio-Cortez’s own bomb-throwing approach to politics, it’s hard not wonder how much House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had to do with this sudden move.
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