AOC’s Own Socialist Allies Are Now Trashing Her as a Fraud

Breaking

Liberation, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist caucus operating inside the Democratic Socialists of America, published a statement this week ruling out any support for a hypothetical 2028 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez presidential campaign — and the language was not subtle. The caucus called the New York congresswoman an “opportunist dilettante, devoid of any principles whatsoever, not a socialist,” and argued flatly that “no elected official can be allowed to be bigger than the organization.” Asked whether DSA should get behind an AOC run, the group said members deserve “a clear answer,” adding: “We will not endorse or give succor to a campaign to put a social democrat at the head of an empire.”

The caucus grounded its rejection in AOC’s 2024 falling-out with DSA’s own National Political Committee, which withdrew her conditional endorsement after she failed to meet the organization’s demands — among them “commitment to opposition to Israeli military funding,” “support for BDS and firm anti-Zionism,” and continued “participation in DSA’s Federal Socialists in Office work.” The statement goes further, accusing her of abandoning the police-abolition activism that helped define her first campaign, writing that “her recent comments deepen her political retreat ever further into opportunism and co-optation by the bourgeoisie.”

Details & Background

The Liberation caucus’s broadside is only the latest flashpoint in a wider DSA civil war over how — or whether — to engage with AOC’s national ambitions at all. In July, the organization’s National Political Committee voted 14-13 to reject a proposal that would have let the full membership vote in a national poll on endorsing an AOC presidential run, instead pushing any formal decision off to the group’s August 2027 convention — more than a year away.

That vote enraged DSA’s rival “Groundwork” caucus, which had pushed to mobilize behind AOC immediately. NYC-DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo accused the national leadership of “overturning our convention” and taking “away our members’ right to vote,” pointedly noting that his chapter alone sends “~$2M per year in dues” to the national organization. A DSA member and founding editor of a communist magazine, writing under the name J. Ryder, warned that delaying the endorsement decision “will inevitably put DSA on the back foot in the 2028 moment” and accused unnamed committee members of “suppressing even a non-binding poll.”

Reactions

Not everyone inside DSA sees the standoff the same way. National Political Committee member Amy Wilhelm directly disputed Gordillo’s account, saying “NYC members deserve co-chairs that don’t lie” and insisting “there was never intention to prevent” members from voting on an endorsement. Massachusetts DSA member Eve Seitchik cast the entire episode in even starker terms, describing it as “a massive escalation of factional tensions” and warning that “I’m afraid DSA has been set down a dangerous path.”

AOC’s congressional office has not issued any public response to the Liberation caucus’s statement or the broader fight tearing through DSA’s ranks over her future. She continues to lead most public polling of the Democratic Party’s 2028 field by a wide margin, but has made no announcement about her plans — leaving the entire argument over her legitimacy to play out among socialists debating without her.

Why This Matters to You

The Democratic Socialists of America helped launch AOC’s career back in 2018, and the organization’s activist wing has only grown more influential inside the broader Democratic coalition since. When that same movement can’t agree on whether its most famous member is still one of them — with factions accusing each other of lying, suppressing votes, and selling out the cause — it’s a preview of just how fractured the party’s left flank could be heading into a wide-open 2028 primary.

For voters watching from outside this socialist infighting, the lesson is simple: labels like “socialist,” “progressive,” and “moderate” mean very different things depending on who is doing the defining, and right now the loudest political fight isn’t between the parties — it’s leftists convinced other leftists aren’t left enough. That’s a dynamic Republicans can watch play out from the sidelines while Democrats figure out who actually speaks for their movement.