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The best known in what has been dubbed by the media The Squad, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was not unexpectedly re-elected from New York.
Ocasio-Cortez has become a star among Democrats after she was elected to the House of Representatives two years ago. The 31-year-old is very articulate and, among other things, has distinguished himself as a ruthless interrogator during various hearings in Congress.
When the Democrats went to elect a presidential candidate, it was not Joe Biden who was their first choice, but the self-proclaimed Social Democrat Bernie Sanders.
Criticism of Israel
Ilhan Omar, 38, who fled Somalia with his parents, obtained residency in the United States in 1995 and was elected to Congress in Minnesota in 2018.
Along with the Palestinian half Rashida Tlaib, Omar was the first Muslim woman to win a seat in Congress.
Tlaib, 44, was elected from Michigan and, among other things, has branded herself a sharp critic of US policy toward Israel, denying her and Omar entry.
The fourth woman in the original quartet is Ayanna Pressley, 44, of Massachusetts, who was also re-elected Tuesday.
Trump racism
The four Radical Democrats came under serious scrutiny after President Donald Trump repeatedly made highly disparaging remarks against them last year.
Among other things, Trump asked the four elected officials to return to the countries “destroyed and infected by crime” from which they came.
However, Omar is the only one born outside the United States, while Tlaib is a second-generation immigrant, Pressley is black, and Ocasio-Cortez’s parents are from Puerto Rico, which has been part of the United States for 120 years. .
The outrage of the four resulted in a harsh reprimand from the House of Representatives, which in clear terms accused the president of racism.
BDS trailer
In the next few years, the four Democrats will be joined by another radical woman in Congress, Cori Bush of Missouri.
Opponents of the 44-year-old woman, among other things, tried to blacken her to show solidarity with the Palestinians and support the international BDS campaign, which was started by Palestinian activists inspired by the non-violent movement against apartheid in South Africa.
Marie Newman of Illinois, who has also secured a seat in the House of Representatives, has also been marked as a strong critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
“I am also opposed to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are contrary to international law and undermine the possibility of a just peace,” he said recently.
Pentagon boy
The radical women are also joined by a radical man, former principal of New York’s Jamaal Bowman High School.
Despite his lack of political experience, the 44-year-old knocked out veteran Elliot Engel during a primary election earlier this year.
Engel is currently chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was one of the Democrats who supported Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal.
Among other things, Bowman demands that the United States establish clear conditions for military aid to Israel, withdraw support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen and cut transfers to the Pentagon. He does not agree with what the leadership of his own party thinks.
“I don’t understand why American taxpayers should subsidize the incarceration of Palestinian children, while Democrats criticize the incarceration of children on the border with Mexico,” he said in an interview.
Israeli apartheid
Minnesota’s Betty McCollum is not a newcomer to Congress, but she was re-elected to a new term on Tuesday. She also belongs a good distance from the left side of the Democrats.
McCollum has also branded himself a harsh critic of America’s unreserved support for Israel, also from the rostrum of the House of Representatives.
– The Palestinian people live under an apartheid system and fight a battle every day under Israeli occupation. Unfortunately, this crackdown is backed by US tax money, he said in September.
Biden’s headache
Although radical rivals like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and his many supporters among Democrats have forced Biden to turn to the left, he remains well above the right by Norwegian standards.
If he wins the election, he, like other presidents, depends on his battles being resolved in Congress to make sure the policy is put into practice.
This in itself will be difficult as a result of the Republican majority in the Senate, but the growing number of radical Democrats in the House of Representatives can also give Biden a headache.
