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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and liberal comedian Jon Stewart lamented the “normalizing” of President Donald Trump by Democrats and Big Tech during the latest podcast episode of “The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart,” released on Thursday.
Stewart marveled at how Democrats’ preserved “decorum” during Trump’s inauguration on Monday, calling it a “surreal scene” to behold four years after the Capitol riot.
“In some ways, [Trump] clowns them. It doesn’t look like holding to protocol, it looks like submission,” he observed.
Stewart said the party’s intense opposition to Trump during the campaign now seemed “performative.”
“When you’re creating apocalyptic messaging about a fascist —” Stewart began.
“Literally!” Ocasio-Cortez chimed in.
“Literally, who is coming over and doing these things, and then when he wins, sitting down with watercress sandwiches and cream cheese, and doing the whole nine yards, it makes you wonder, did you believe any of the s— you were saying before?” Stewart continued. “Or was that something that was just a part of your messaging?”
The progressive congresswoman agreed with Stewart’s assessment, claiming Trump was “so much more dangerous” this time around because “he is much more normalized” than he was during his first term.
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“The first time, people were really on edge, they were on guard, they were very vigilant about any break that he would have with these norms. This time, the norms are becoming him. The norms are embracing him,” she continued.
Despite years of tension between Big Tech leaders and President Trump, CEOs at major tech companies have warmed up to Trump since the election.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were all in attendance at the president’s inauguration on Monday.
Ocasio-Cortez referenced luxury clothing designer Oscar de la Renta dressing women in the First and Second families at inaugural events as signs of the cultural shift.
“All of these people that were scared before of being associated with him. From the most common, basic level, to the most elite level, they’re all, all in now,” she continued.
“Because this is now a billionaire feeding frenzy. It is a kiss a– race. It is, how can I show how much fealty I have to Donald Trump in order to get my digs?”
“What’s really important for people to understand now and every day of this administration, is that you’re being ripped off. You’re being ripped off, dude! Like, everyone is being ripped off,” she said. “And he goes up there, and he says what he wants to say, but he’s just the quintessential New York con man.”