Ocasio-Cortez distances herself from 2020 'defund police' rhetoric
What's new: She said pandemic-era debates opened space for ideas she would not frame the same way today.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez moved away from her past support for defunding police, saying comments from the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns reflected a period when politicians were testing broad policy ideas. In an interview on ABC's "This Week," the New York Democrat laughed off the earlier moment as "Woke 1 was crazy" and argued voters should judge candidates by what they are saying now. Pressed on whether the socialist movement had gone too far, she said the discussions were still useful but that the rhetoric of that period is not how she would talk about crime today. Ocasio-Cortez also said she belongs to the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and does not share every national DSA position.