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The far-left political vision represented by U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is widely considered to be the greatest threat to the American republic of modern times.
Many see her bizarre rantings, which range from calls to completely defund the police to describing perceived racial injustice as a consequence of climate change, as a gift to the conservative cause. Yet others point out she continues to let her constituents down, while her rhetoric has only helped shift American politics even further to the left. Her district covers the Bronx, portions of north-central Queens, and Rikers Island.
Someone who shares this view is Desi Cuellar, a Cuban-American running for the Republican nomination to take on AOC in next year’s mid-term elections. Similar to AOC, Cuellar is also a former bartender who faced the struggles of working on a minimum wage in one of the most expensive cities in the world. When the work dried up, he became homeless for six months, before turning his life around by enlisting in the National Guard. After three years of active duty, he recently gave up to focus on his campaign.
The 34-year-old, who describes himself as a proponent of the America First movement, has already laid out some of his objectives should he get into office. These include reducing government overreach, the introduction of term limits, immigration reform, regulating Big Tech, supporting protests against Cuba’s communist regime, and allowing crypto to become a mainstream form of currency.
Yet in order to achieve those things, he must first overcome two significant hurdles. Firstly, he must win his primary, given that other Republicans such as the MAGA influencer Tina Forte have also thrown their hat in the ring. Should he become the nominee, he then faces the mammoth task of overturning her massive 47 point majority, requiring more than a 23 point swing of roughly 50,000 votes. When asked whether he has any realistic chance of winning, Cuellar said that voters are finally waking up to the consequences of permanent Democratic rule, even in a solidly blue state such as New York.
“The problem, for a long time, has been that New Yorkers bought into a lie for decades,” he says. “The lie is that Democrats care about our well-being and that it’s a good thing to give the government more control over our lives. Because our elected officials only want to use this increased power to take care of our problems and to keep everyone safe. But the only thing that Democrats in office have done is destroy our economy, violate our rights, restrict our ability to provide for our families and make our neighborhoods more dangerous.
“In fact, so many people left New York last year that we even lost a congressional seat,” he continues. “Things in New York aren’t the same way that they’ve been for the last 30 years. Millions of people all over the country and in this City have finally woken up. And millions more will continue to realize what is happening and what they will lose if they don’t change who they vote for. A red wave is coming in 2022 and I will lead the fight against AOC.”
Although AOC is often described as an anti-establishment politician, Cuellar argues that she is in fact a result of a process involving well-funded organizations with deep ties to the establishment that she has made a name for herself by criticizing.
“There is a Democrat PAC called Justice Democrats. It was founded in 2017 by former leaders in the 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks. Justice Democrats held a casting call for thousands of applicants and AOC’s brother submitted her name as an applicant. She won the audition for the job and had her handheld through the process until she was elected.”
“She didn’t decide to run because she wanted to help people. She didn’t get elected because she represents the district or use her intelligence to build a grassroots movement. She was hand-picked to run for Congress by a well-funded and experienced organization that has connections to media and politics. If AOC had never been born then the Justice Democrats PAC would have chosen someone else to run against Crowley that would be saying the same exact things she says and pushing the same exact policies. She is a manufactured product that was coached since selection to fill a role. AOC is a scripted actress. She is a newer, younger, more radically left mainstream puppet. She is the establishment repackaged.”
One of the biggest stories of 2021 has been how Hispanics are drastically moving towards the Republican Party. According to data from The Wall Street Journal, Hispanics are now evenly split on the 2022 Congressional ballot, while Biden’s overall approval rating with that demographic is 12 points underwater. Cuellar believes that the GOP can continue to capitalize on this trend so long as they do not try and pander them with meaningless promises.
“If the GOP wants to capitalize on Hispanics turning towards the GOP then the only thing the GOP needs to do is not pander to us. Talk is cheap. Hispanics want to be treated as equals and be given a fair shot to be able to make an honest living to be able to achieve the American dream. If the GOP can demonstrate that they’ve got a real plan in place to reverse the damage that Democrats have caused with the economy, education, unemployment, and rising crime rates then they will see the enthusiasm among Hispanics in this country explode.”
Cuellar also believes that there is an opportunity for media outlets such as El American, arguing that the coverage by Univision and Telemundo has become biased towards the left.
“Univision and Telemundo have stuck to their business model and have delivered an overall product to their viewers for a very long time. But over the years I think we’ve all noticed them shift, politically, from the center to the left. And after the massive turnout of Hispanic voters for Trump in 2020 I 100% believe that there is a massive demand for Hispanic-focused conservative media to flourish. I look forward to watching El American do really big things in 2022.”
Learn more about Desi Cuellar’s campaign by visiting Desi Cuellar for New York
Ben Kew is English Editor of El American. He studied politics and modern languages at the University of Bristol where he developed a passion for the Americas and anti-communist movements. He previously worked as a national security correspondent for Breitbart News. He has also written for The Spectator, Spiked, PanAm Post, and The Independent
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Ben Kew es editor en inglés de El American. Estudió política y lenguas modernas en la Universidad de Bristol, donde desarrolló una pasión por las Américas y los movimientos anticomunistas. Anteriormente trabajó como corresponsal de seguridad nacional para Breitbart News. También ha escrito para The Spectator, Spiked, PanAm Post y The Independent.
Mas probable que los cerdos volan que republicano gana este distrito