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The Republican Party has the same aesthetics as Hezbollah. https://t.co/YrDeDsiX0I

— Leonardo Carella (@leonardocarella) February 18, 2021

buffalo bill wrote:

The Republican Party has the same aesthetics as Hezbollah. https://t.co/YrDeDsiX0I

— Leonardo Carella (@leonardocarella) February 18, 2021

CNN wrote:Last Thursday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) announced her plan to raise money to help victims of the extreme weather -- and power grid failure -- in Texas.

On Sunday night, her office confirmed that she had raised almost $5 million for that effort in less than 96 hours.

Obviously, the most important thing here is that millions more dollars will go to Texans still struggling to find potable water and deal with the damage from last week's deep freeze. (Ocasio-Cortez also traveled to the state over the weekend to see the situation firsthand.)

But it's also extremely important -- in terms of AOC's political future -- to note how incredible it is for a second-term House member to be able to raise so much money so quickly for a cause she chose to advocate for.

Many politicians -- especially in the House -- don't (and can't) raise $5 million in the course of a two-year election cycle. That AOC can do so by simply saying she wanted to help Texans who were hurting speaks to not only her immense national donor base but also the level of allegiance those people feel for her.

Remember this: For all the bad press money in politics gets, it remains one of the best ways to gauge loyalty and passion for a candidate. If you can get lots of people to open their wallets for you, it means they truly believe in you and what you are doing in the public space.

When you can raise $5 million for a cause -- and not even one in your state or having anything to do with you -- in the space of four days, well, that's real power.

And it's that power that, in the near term, makes AOC her own power center within the House. Because when you can raise money in the millions over a few days, every single member of the Democratic-controlled House wants to be on your good side.

NRDC wrote:President Trump and the Keystone XL Pipeline
When the Obama administration refused to grant the cross-border permit necessary to build TC Energy’s Keystone XL oil pipeline in November 2015, it struck a blow against polluting powers and acknowledged the consensus on this misguided project from a wide swath of people and organizations. “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change,” President Obama said. “And, frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership.” The Obama-era decision echoed a seven-year State Department review process with EPA input that concluded the pipeline would fail to serve national interests.

Upon entering office, President Trump—with his pro-polluter cabinet of fossil fuel advocates, billionaires, and bankers—quickly demonstrated that his priorities differed. On his fourth day in office, Trump signed an executive order to allow Keystone XL to move forward. On March 28, 2017, his administration illegally approved a cross-border permit for the pipeline, reversing the Obama administration’s robust National Interest Determination process. When that failed—thanks to a lawsuit brought by NRDC and other groups—President Trump reissued the cross-border permit himself. His administration has also attempted to issue other permits for the project, all based on flawed environmental analyses, prompting two more lawsuits from NRDC and its allies.

In May 2020, while campaigning in the Democratic primary for the presidential ticket, Joe Biden vowed to cancel the Keystone XL cross-border permit should he win the presidency. He is expected to make good on that promise on his first day in office, January 20, 2021.