🔰AOC running for president in 2028_ My thoughts

Welcome back to the Stephen A Smith show. Now, let's get to Washington and an early look at the race for the White House in 2028. According to the Wall Street Journal, sources close to AOC say she isn't ruling out the possibility of a presidential run. The Democrats suffered major losses in the November election, as everybody and their grandmama knows. And the party is frankly struggling to find a strategy to take on President Trump and his policies. AOC, who is 35 years of age, has emerged as a leading voice for Democrats. But, some within the party are concerned she'll turn off centrist voters who are needed in the swing states that Trump swept in November. For the record, they are absolutely right. She will turn off centrists. I am not casting any aspersions on this young lady. I think that if you are a Democrat, if you are a leftist, who rails against the system, who believes that free market capitalism spearheaded by billionaires is not the way to go, if you believe that not enough attention is being paid attention to the desolate and disenfranchised, if you believe that higher taxes is the way to go, that a focus shouldn't be on securing the borders, if you believe those kind of things and that's where you stand. And ideologically, AOC is your candidate. No doubt about that. Here's what I will say to you, I have no questions about her heart and the place that it is in. I think that anyone that she represents knows that she's a fighter. She's a fighter for the impoverished. She's a fighter for urban America. She's a fighter for union workers and things of that nature. I get that part. I'm just talking about whether or not it's a winning strategy. Most people in the country are centrist, they're moderates, whether they're Republican moderates or Democratic nominates or moderates or just flat out centrist who are independents. That's most of the American population. They are not MAGA right and they are not progressive left. She clearly is. And not to be literal, not to be taken literally, but she gives the impression that when you talk about universal health care and you talk about other things, if it equated to taxing Americans 70% of their income, she wouldn't be against it. That ain't gonna win you elections. That's not gonna win you elections. If you're living in this day and age and you're talking about fighting for certain rights, as in particular as it pertains to transgender individuals, athletes transitioning and men competing in women's sports and stuff like that, which she's not about to speak against. If you think that's gonna win you an election, you've got your head in the sand. See the real issue that I'm having right now with the Democratic Party is I'm waiting to hear what your plan is. It can't be we're just against all things Trump. What's your plan? What's your plan for the economy? What's your plan as it pertains to comprehensive immigration reform? What is your plan when it comes to foreign affairs? What is your plan as it pertains to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or should I say Israel with Hamas? What is your plan with Russia and Ukraine? Is it just giving Ukraine more money like Biden was willing to do? What are your plans? We got to pay attention to all of this stuff. Jobs in America, recidivism in our jails, all of these things. What's the plan? What's the plan as it pertains to the vast majority of Americans in this country? What is your plan? I don't have one yet. That's why I keep telling y'all if I ever run for the presidency, oh, trust me, that's not a decision I'm gonna make for years, for at least the next two years. And I sincerely hope that it's not me. You got a lot of people that look at Westmore, the governor of Maryland, that look at Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, that look at Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, that looks at Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, New York State, who's now running for mayor of the city of New York. The key operative word in all of that is governor, meaning you ran a state as opposed to being one of 435 representatives whistling into the wind about what you think is wrong with this country, ill-equipped to do something about it. Because you're relatively limited, because you're only one voice of many, as in 435. You got people talking about how she should run for a Senate seat. Maybe that's true. Maybe she should supplant Senator Chuck Schumer, who's been there for ages and people have been critical against because he sided with the Republicans a month ago instead of the Democrats. Either way, you slice it. Here's the point. Are you really just talking and railing against the establishment? Are you railing against the new establishment that is the MAGA right led by Trump? Or are you strategizing as it pertains to what's going to work? I saw her go on tour with Bernie Sanders, okay? If that man mentions the word oligarch one more time, I'm going to lose my mind. He's been saying it since 1983. Haven't you noticed that folks ain't buying that right now? You're having these rallies, flying on jets, and doing all of these things, which is basically the same kind of thing you've been complaining about. Where's the consistency? Where's the absence of hypocrisy? These are the kind of questions people are going to ask. Do you have the answer to that other than railing against the establishment? I've listened to Jasmine Crockett. Both AOC and Jasmine Crockett are welcomed on this show. I respect the hell out of both of them. I'm not here to disrespect anybody. I'm only talking about what strategy is going to work. When I hear Jasmine Crockett talking about how I'm just against all things and everything Trump, is that legislating? Isn't it an obligation that you have to come up with something? If the other party is in office, you have to go from thinking that you're going to get what you want if your party was in the White House, and instead transitioning to how can I work with the other party to get some of what I want because I know I'm not going to get most of what I want because they won the election. How do we know this? That was Obama's approach when he beat Senator John McCain for the presidency in 2008. That's what he said. I won. We won. It's our turn. I remember Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator, Speaker of the House. I'm sorry, Speaker of the Senate. I remember what Mitch McConnell said at that time. My goal is to make Obama a one-term president. That's not somebody that was willing to work across the aisle. I get that. But it compromised the White House because ultimately the kind of power that they had in having a House, the Senate, and the White House was lost a couple of years later. What AOC is doing, what Bernie Sanders is doing, what Jasmine Crockett is doing, I don't know if that's going to win you back one of the houses of Congress come 2026. What is your strategy? That's all I'm asking. It's a question for Democrats everywhere. Because if you don't come up with an answer soon, Trump and his peeps are going to answer it for you. And they're going to win the midterms in 2026, and then you'll really be up Schitt's Creek.