During her time in the media spotlight, Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has enjoyed nothing but friendly, softball interviews with reporters who want to see her succeed. Even still, Ocasio-Cortez has managed to stumble time after time in what has become a highlight reel of gaffes and stuttering non-answers.
Ocasio-Cortez has particularly struggled on the economic front, failing to explain how she plans to pay for all of her outrageously expensive proposals, failing to understand the nature of unemployment statistics, and more. This lack of economic fluency makes Ocasio-Cortez’s upcoming debate – where she will face off against her Republican, economics professor opponent – all the more interesting.
Though the exact date of the debate is still unknown, Ocasio-Cortez has agreed to debate Dr. Anthony Pappas, and the debate is set to be hosted by the local Spanish-speaking newspaper Queens Latino.
As an economics professor at St. John’s University’s Peter J. Robin College of Business, Pappas is quite familiar with the socialist policies that Ocasio-Cortez promotes – and he plans to use the upcoming debate to harshly challenge Ocasio-Cortez on these policies for arguably the first time in her campaign.
“Pappas is adamantly opposed to [socialism] because it is not an economic model that has worked in world history,” his campaign said, “She [Ocasio-Cortez] is far away from any rational plan of action or solution.”
Even if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was an economic genius, she’d still have an incredibly difficult time defending the effectiveness of socialism. The facts simply are not on her side. When you take into account the reality that Ocasio-Cortez’s economic acumen is seriously lacking, though, it’s difficult to imagine how she could possibly fare well in this debate.
Even though we know little of Dr. Pappas thanks to the fact that he hasn’t received even a fraction of the media coverage that his opponent has enjoyed, it’s still safe to say that any economics professor should be able to run circles around Ocasio-Cortez when it comes to the merits and drawbacks of socialism.
Nevertheless, Pappas’ lack of media coverage is the one thing that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has working in her favor heading into this debate. While Ocasio-Cortez has become a household name and a media darling thanks to her age, her gender, her ethnicity, and her far-left views, Dr. Pappas has largely been ignored by the media. It isn’t uncommon for a first-time congressional candidate to receive sparse media attention, but it is very unusual for a first-time candidate to have to face off against another first-time candidate that is enjoying nationwide coverage and high-profile interviews across the country.
What this means is that even if Pappas manages to dismantle Ocasio-Cortez during their debate, the mainstream media is sure to spin the story in a way that makes it seem as if Ocasio-Cortez came out on top. Regardless of what takes place during the debate, Ocasio-Cortez will continue to benefit from a level of coverage and support in the media that Dr. Pappas cannot even hope to attain.
In spite of this disadvantage, though, the upcoming debate is still a golden opportunity for Dr. Pappas to expose the serious flaws in his opponent’s economic policies. Any blunders and mistakes that Ocasio-Cortez makes during the debate will not be ignored, and merely participating in an event with Ocasio-Cortez is sure to raise Dr. Pappas’ profile as well. Already, people who have never even heard of Pappas are learning more about the candidate just from the small amount of media buzz that was generated when the two campaigns agreed to debate.
Dr. Pappas defeating Ocasio-Cortez is still a long shot at this point, but so was Ocasio-Cortez defeating her Democratic opponent. If Dr. Pappas wants to pull off the upset, he’s going to have to take full advantage of the opportunities that he gets, and this debate will by far be the biggest opportunity that Pappas has been given thus far.
Dr. Pappas defeating Ocasio-Cortez would come as a major blow to the socialist left and would severely weaken the idea that socialism is the most effective path forward for the Democratic Party. For the good of a nation that cannot afford to adopt the failed policies of socialism, let’s hope that Dr. Pappas soundly defeats Ocasio-Cortez in this debate and every debate that follows it.
