Quote of the Day

I think [President Trump is] scared. He sees that everything is closing in on him. And he knows he’s losing the battle of public opinion when it comes to the actual substantive proposals that we [as progressives] are advancing.

Every single policy proposal that we have adopted and presented to the American public has been overwhelmingly popular, even some with the majority of Republican voters. When we talk about a 70 percent marginal tax rate on incomes over $10 million, 60 percent of Americans approve it. Seventy percent of Americans believe in improved and expanded Medicare for All. A very large amount of Americans believe that we need to do something about climate change, and that it is an existential threat to ourselves and to our children.

What we really need to realize . . . is that this is an issue of [an] authoritarian regime versus democracy.

– Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Quoted in Jake Johnson’s article, “Ocasio-Cortez Says
Trump Attack on Socialism Shows President 'Scared'
of Popular Progressive Policies”
Common Dreams
February 6, 2019

Related Off-site Links:
Trump’s State of the Union Address Reveals His Growing Anxiety Over Encroaching Left-Wing Populism – Briahna Gray (The Intercept, February 6, 2019).
Socialism Is More Popular Than You Think, Mr. President – John Nichols (The Nation, February 6, 2019).
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wasn’t Here for Donald Trump Bad-Mouthing Resistance in His State of the Union Address – Lucy Diavolo (Teen Vogue, February 6, 2019).
Donald Trump Targets Democratic Socialists Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders During State of the Union Address – Shira Tarlo (Salon, February 6, 2019).
Trump Is Right to Be Afraid of Socialism – Meagan Day Jacobin, February 6, 2019).
The State of the Union in Six Words: Donald Trump Is Full of It – Michael Winship Common Dreams, February 6, 2019).
There's No Use Taking Trump’s State of the Union Address Seriously – Ibn Safir The Root, February 5, 2019).
Trump's Got Nothing Left to Say – Jim Newell (Slate, February 6, 2019).
The Joyful Defiance of the Congresswomen in White at the State of the Union – Alexandra Schwartz (Common Dreams, February 6, 2019).
Transcript: Trump’s State
of the Union, Annotated – Nicholas Fandos, Jon Huang, Thomas Kaplan, and Katie Rogers (The New York Times, November 6, 2018).
Stacey Abrams, First Black Woman to Give Democratic Rebuttal, Offers Tough Rebuke of Trump and G.O.P. Leaders – Clare Foran (CNN, November 6, 2018).
Native American Congresswoman Deb Haaland's Response to State of the Union: “Actions Speak Louder Than Words” – Levi Rickert (Native News Online, November 5, 2018).
Democratic Women Send Trump a Message: We're Coming for You – Amanda Marcotte (Salon, November 6, 2018).
We Need a Socialist Caucus in Congress – Bhaskar Sunkara (Jacobin, November 6, 2018).
Why Is Nancy Pelosi So Afraid of Socialism? – Mehdi Hasan The Intercept, July 6, 2018).
The Millennial Socialists Are Coming – Michelle Goldberg (The New York Times, June 30, 2018).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – June 27, 2018
• Quote of the Day – February 6, 2018
• Hope, History and Bernie Sanders
• Carrying It On
• Quote of the Day – August 17, 2011
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis
• Capitalism on Trial
• R.I.P. Neoclassical Economics
• Trump's Playbook
• On International Human Rights Day, Saying “No” to Donald Trump and His Fascist Agenda
• A Profoundly Troubling and Tragic Indictment
• Michael Sean Winters: “The Entire Republican Establishment Has Caved to Trumpism”

Images: U.S. House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) at President Trump’s State of the Union address at the US Capitol on February 5, 2019. (AP/Alex Wong)