'Stop Playing Nice,' Says AOC as Senate Dems Help Approve Yet Another Trump Nominee

Hours after Democratic lawmakers warned that billionaire Elon Musk's takeover of federal agencies is "what the beginning of dictatorship looks like," expressed outrage at being barred from entering the U.S. Agency for International Development, and vowed to take legislative action and launch legal challenges to stop Musk's "outrageous" maneuver, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke out against Democrats who are proceeding as though a constitutional crisis isn't taking place.

"No Democrat should be voting to advance [President Donald] Trump's nominees while all of this stuff is going on," said the New York Democrat in a 90-minute Instagram Live video Monday evening. "There has to be a political price to pay and we have a responsibility as a party to block everything that is happening while they're setting a literal mash to the federal government."

Ocasio-Cortez aired her live video—an overview of Musk's takeover of Treasury Department payment systems, USAID, and his push to cut billions in federal spending for social services to secure an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts for the rich—as the Senate was voting to confirm fracking company CEO Chris Wright to be the country's next energy secretary.

Seven Democratic senators—Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)—joined Republicans in supporting Wright, as did Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats.

In addition to overlooking Musk's seizure of USAID and payment systems that contain personal data of millions of people who receive Social Security checks, Medicare, and other payments and benefits from the government, the Democrats approved a nominee who has accused the party of pushing for Soviet-style communism through efforts to combat the climate emergency and has said, "There is no climate crisis."

"There is no reason for business as usual while Elon Musk is fueling a constitutional crisis."

Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats must make the Trump administration and the GOP "fight for every single step. The slower they go, the less they can break."

"We have to stop playing nice in the Senate and block every damn thing that we can," said Ocasio-Cortez, who did not speak directly about Wright's confirmation vote. "Do not give votes to the nominees."

Ocasio-Cortez urged voters to call their senators and demand that they vote against Trump's nominees who still have to be confirmed, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary, Pam Bondi for attorney general, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for United Nations ambassador.

The Democrats, who hold 47 Senate seats compared to Republicans' 53, don't have the numbers to block the president's nominees through a vote—but they could push for nominations to be withdrawn, as former Rep. Matt Gaetz's was for attorney general amid sexual abuse allegations against him—and at least display "a gesture of resistance," as historian Keith Orejel said Tuesday.

Organizers applauded Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who spoke at a rally outside USAID on Monday, for announcing a plan to place a blanket hold on all of Trump's nominees for State Department positions until Musk and the administration end their effort to shut down USAID.

"Until and unless this brazenly authoritarian action is reversed and USAID is functional again, I will be placing a blanket hold on all of the Trump administration's State Department nominees," said Schatz. "This is self-inflicted chaos of epic proportions that will have dangerous consequences all around the world."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he would support Schatz's holds, telling a reporter, "We're all in this together."

A blanket hold communicates to the Senate majority leader that lawmakers would object to a nomination by unanimous consent, slowing down the confirmation process and other legislative business Republicans want to address.

Stefanik's nomination for U.N. ambassador could be directly impacted by the blanket hold.

Schatz's announcement displayed "crucial leadership," said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the grassroots advocacy group Indivisible.

"There is no reason for business as usual," she said, "while Elon Musk is fueling a constitutional crisis."