Screencaps from ABC News, CNN, and NowThis News
By Situation Theatre 4/3/2019
Famously, Bernie and Alexandria have become so popular by being ‘fine’ with human rights abuses and endlessly equivocating over massive new fossil fuel projects.
Much like Scott Morrison models himself on John Howard, Bill Shorten has been modelling himself on success stories at the other end of the political spectrum: democratic socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Sanders and AOC have risen to prominence in the United States by vacillating on the key social and environmental justice issues of our time.
The democratic senator from Vermont went so far in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries because of his constant flipping between talking about wealth inequality in some parts of the country and then emphasising all the wonderful things about business and the finance industry in other parts of the country.
Similarly, Ocasio-Cortez has become the political rockstar of the Democratic Party by saying she was totally fine with Trump ripping immigrant children from their parents at the southern border, so long as they were getting appropriate care.
Given just how closely Shorten has been modelling himself off such popular figures, it remains a mystery why his personal polling remains in the doldrums.