Controversial progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has some scathing criticism for President Biden, accusing him of a “lurch to the right” after he approved a massive oil drilling project, saying it was a “profound miscalculation” and “quite dangerous.”
Her comments come as the divide between progressives and more moderate members of the Democratic Party widens just as Biden has announced his bid for reelection.
AOC made the comments during an April interview where she was asked about Biden’s approval of the Willow Project, a 30-year oil drilling project in Alaska, and whether he should be challenged in a Democratic primary.
“This lurch to the Right at a time when the Right is scrambling and lost in the desert on how to even win an election after these stunning losses — I think it’s a profound miscalculation. And it is quite dangerous,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The New York lawmaker also seemed to warn the president against forgetting “who it was that put him over the top” and added that some of the Biden administration’s latest moves were “highly concerning.”
She also predicted that the president’s recent dip in approval was due to the oil project.
Ocasio-Cortez, joined by Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., issued a statement criticizing Biden’s approval of the Willow Project.
“The Biden administration has committed to fighting climate change and advancing environmental justice—today’s decision to approve the Willow project fails to live up to those promises,” the statement said. “Their decision ignores … the irrefutable science that says we must stop building projects like this to slow the ever more devastating impacts of climate change.”
Ocasio-Cortez also criticized the president on immigration.
“I’m a major critic of the party. I think the Biden administration has been very disappointing on climate. In the first twenty-five months of the Trump presidency versus the first twenty-five months of the Biden presidency, Biden has authorized more fossil fuel permits. This is a serious issue. The Biden administration is failing on immigration as well, but that’s a separate conversation,” she said during the same interview.
Her rebuke of President Biden comes as rumors swirl that AOC has her sights on a Senate challenge to New York’s Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2024.