Molly McPherson argues that outsider politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders connect with voters because they speak to real pain without establishment funding constraints. Even if a candidate's flawed, she says, don't throw out the message that resonates with people. Criticism should target the person's conduct, not the ideas.
There's a reason why an AOC and a Mondani and a Platner and a Bernie Sanders, like why they resonate. They're like a no notes. They get up and they speak, they speak the pain. But when you're deep in establishment, Democratic or Republican, you really can't say where you took your money or the lobbying money or why we're doing this. Well, what about this? They have to cover a lot of the time. Grant Platner as a candidate wanted to bust through that. That's another reason why he connected with people, and we don't wanna lose that. We cannot make Grant Platner's message the problem. We can make Grant Platner and his actions the problem, but not the message, because it resonated for a reason.
