NEW YORK — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined the actors and writers unions on a picket line in Manhattan Monday, lending her own considerable star power to the fight for more-favorable contracts with movie studios.
“How many private jets does David Zaslav need?” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, outside of the company’s headquarters.
“For real, how many private jets do these CEOs need? It is insatiable. It is unacceptable. I do not know how any person can say I need another $100 million before another person can have health care.”
The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 2 demanding better pay and benefits. The actors union, SAG-AFTRA, just called their own strike on July 14. Democratic politicians have backed them, with President Joe Biden and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), among others, issuing statements in support of the striking workers.
One major sticking point has been the use of artificial intelligence in writing scripts. But Ocasio-Cortez hammered home the essential and irreplaceable nature of the writers’ work.
“The only way we can bust this up is by giving the people in charge a reality check by reminding them that if they leave the job, life goes on. But if we leave the job, everything comes to a halt,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And all of this will grind to a half and the money train will end for them if labor and actors and writers and everybody, all workers, aren’t respected and paid with dignity.”
As one of the most progressive members of Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has made solidarity with labor unions a pillar of her political brand.
She recently joined a rally with the Teamsters earlier this month on Long Island, as they threatened to strike if a contract can’t be reached with UPS by Aug. 1. Though Ocasio-Cortez received some backlash from other socialists for voting to block a December 2022 strike by Railroad Workers United, She defended the vote as following the will of the rank and file members.
“We are in a hot labor summer right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to the looming Teamsters strike, and other actions that have put Biden and the White House in a difficult spot.
Asked if Congress should do anything about the actors’ and writers’ contract negotiations, Ocasio-Cortez said she was just there for her constituents. “If SAG-AFTRA, if WGA calls on Congress then I think that’s something that should absolutely be considered,” she said. “But until then, we’ve got to get out of their way, and let the workers do their thing.”
The strikes have particular relevance to Ocasio-Cortez’s 14th Congressional District, which includes a number of soundstages and film studios. She also represents a high concentration of members of the unions. The Queens neighborhood of Astoria in her district has been dubbed “Actoria” for the number of performers living there.
But she said she hasn’t heard from the studios. “I hear a lot from the workers and actors.”
Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios, has said the strike will cause financial hardship for other workers who depend on the industry.
Ocasio–Cortez walked the picket line for about 45 minutes. The block-long line of well over a hundred people also passed in front of the Manhattan office of Netflix.
Actor F. Murray Abraham, who was nominated for an Emmy for his role as the grandfather on season two of “The White Lotus,” also joined the picket line Monday. “Without a union, there is no middle class. And without a middle class, there is no democracy. Unions are good for America,” he said.
Abraham brushed off a question about whether it was odd for him to see Ocasio-Cortez getting all the media attention at the picket. “No! No. We’re all union people. I want to represent. Solidarity. Unity,” he said. “My grandfather from Italy helped form the miners union in the early part of the last century. I’m a union man from way back.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance came after the simultaneous opening of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” led to one of the biggest weekends for movies in history. Ocasio-Cortez herself was part of that fandom.
“I did watch Barbie this weekend. I saw it in Astoria. I thought it was great. Loved it. And it’s a union production. So what more could you ask for?”
Top officials on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s campaign acknowledged to donors on Sunday that they’d spent too much money and that further changes would be made as they look to recover from a disappointing start, according to three people who were present for the discussion.
Appearing before around 70 of the campaign’s top contributors at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley, Utah, DeSantis’ campaign manager Generra Peck said money had been spent on operations that had turned out to be ineffective and that the campaign would move to a leaner, “insurgent” posture going forward. Among the changes being made were to “expose” voters to DeSantis more, said Nick Iarossi, a Florida-based lobbyist and fundraiser who was at the event.
“Let Ron be Ron,” added Iarossi. “That’s what got him here. That’s what made him the leader that he is in Florida. We’re going back to our basics on all of this.”
The retreat comes as DeSantis has slipped in national and early state polling, with recent surveys showing him trailing former President Donald Trump by large margins. There have also been growing concerns about the campaign’s financial position. The campaign recently cut fewer than 10 staffers who were involved in event planning. Two senior DeSantis political aides, Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain, also recently departed the campaign to work on an outside pro-DeSantis effort.
Peck did not specify what the changes would be, according to a person who was present, though she indicated that everything would be on the table. Peck noted that the campaign had put too much money into event planning, the three people present said.
One attendee said the campaign officials indicated that they would spend less on fundraising, directing money saved there into operations in early nominating states. The aides expressed confidence in their early state efforts, and outlined the infrastructure they had developed.
DeSantis has been criticized for running a campaign that has shunned the mainstream media and relied on a bloated team of 90-plus staffers, which has drained the campaign’s coffers. Attendees said Peck told the group that the governor planned to run more as an outsider, doing more media and smaller events.
Last week, DeSantis had an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper — his first extensive sit-down with a mainstream media outlet. Aides say they expect the governor to do further interviews with mainstream organizations. He has also teased further policy rollouts.
Peck was joined on the roughly hour-long panel by three other top campaign officials — Sam Cooper, Ryan Tyson and Ethan Eilon. The weekend retreat also featured a Saturday evening “Investor Appreciation Dinner,” a “Campaign Brainstorm and Strategy Session” and a Sunday night barbeque dinner.
Despite the campaign’s early stumbles and the slimming of staff, Iarossi stressed that Peck’s position atop the operation was not in danger.
“The important thing that everyone realized here is the first family has complete faith in Generra and the team,” he said. “The team is going to continue to evaluate the direction, be nimble, make changes as necessary. But the team is solidly behind her, the donors are solidly behind her. And this insurgent campaign that’s being run is going to allow us to be more efficient going forward.”
The Biden administration has spent most of 2023 trying to restart high-level contacts with their Chinese counterparts after a wayward Chinese military balloon blew up relations beyond the control of both countries. Clearly, the Biden administration wants to see a return to regular diplomatic exchange. In recent months Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry have all trekked to Beijing.
Results have been mixed. China’s response to these visits has been correct but not warm. Of the three Biden policy principals who recently sojourned to Beijing, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping only met with Blinken.
China is not cool towards all Americans, however. Its leadership rolled out the red carpet this week for former National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He not only met with Xi, but also with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and defense minister Li Shangfu, the person Austin was not allowed to see. The praise coming from China’s collective leadership was fulsome. Wang said that Kissinger, “has made historic contributions to breaking the ice in China-U.S. relations, and played an irreplaceable role in enhancing understanding between the two countries.” Xi was even warmer with his words: “The Chinese people never forget their old friends, and Sino-U.S. relations will always be linked with the name of Henry Kissinger.” Kissinger reciprocated the warm vibe, telling his interlocutors that he was a “friend of China.” The BBC went so far as to suggest that, “given his outsized stature in China, [Kissinger] could act as a backchannel for U.S.-China negotiations.”
The State Department threw cold water on that last possibility in their daily briefing, stressing that Kissinger was traveling as a private citizen and not under the aegis of the U.S. government. Still, the contrast was striking between the warmth on display at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse with Kissinger compared to the chillier atmosphere at the Great Hall of the People, where Biden officials met with their counterparts.
Why the lovefest? Mostly because it was in both China’s and Kissinger’s mutual interests to play nice. For China, it was an opportunity to suggest that they would respond better to U.S. policies that harkened back to Kissinger’s time. For Kissinger, the visit represents an opportunity to do what he has been trying to do ever since he left public office: maintain his relevancy and influence.
To understand Beijing’s perspective, it is important to remember that the political climate in Washington has turned sharply against the Chinese Communist Party over the last decade. For all the talk of polarization of American foreign policy, one of the few areas of recent bipartisan consensus has been to view China as a rival rather than a partner. This began at the tail end of the Obama administration. The Trump administration ramped up the hostility, highlighting human rights abuses in Xinjiang, bolstering its support of Taiwan, and launching a trade war with China.
In its first two years the Biden administration has, if anything, accelerated the retreat from engagement and the turn towards strategic competition. This became evident in the first high-level meeting between Chinese and U.S. officials in Anchorage, Alaska in March 2021. The atmosphere inside the room was chillier than the temperature outside. After Chinese officials castigated their U.S. counterparts, Blinken responded in kind in front of television cameras, warning China that its actions would result in a “far more violent” world. For the next two years, the Biden administration made it clear that it took strategic competition with China seriously. The United States jumpstarted the Quad and launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, structures that were clearly designed to counter China. In his statements, President Joe Biden seemed to signal an end to U.S. “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, making it quite clear that the United States would step in to help defend the island from a PRC military attack. The administration imposed export controls that made the Trump administration’s measures seem picayune by comparison.
After 30-plus years of breakneck engagement — started by Kissinger’s first visit to China in 1971 — it is understandable that Xi and his leadership cadre feels nostalgic for a time when U.S. officials were more interested in opening up China’s market to American exports than closing the U.S. economy to Chinese exports. Fêting Kissinger allows Beijing to signal that relations would be so much better if Washington reverted back to the foreign policy of a decade ago.
It also evokes China’s preferred diplomatic style for managing relations with the United States. For decades, China liked it best when the U.S. administration assigned a point person to handle the China portfolio. During the latter years of the George W. Bush administration, it was Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen; during much of Obama’s first term it was national security adviser Tom Donilon. There really has not been anyone similar for the past two administrations. Showering praise on Kissinger is a relatively subtle and painless way of signaling their preference for a return to what once was.
If the Chinese are attempting a nostalgia play for the Sino-American relationship of decades past, Kissinger’s motivations are entirely rooted in the present. Kissinger’s reputation has taken a hit in recent years, as his past policy mistakes and attempts to suck up to power have become clearer to the untrained eye. Great power politics, however, remains the one area where even Kissinger’s bitterest critics acknowledge that he had some juice. As U.S. relations with China sour, Kissinger can burnish his reputation by playing the role of senior statesperson just by showing up and wowing everyone with his intellectual acumen as a centenarian.
There is something more than that for Kissinger, however. This trip is a reminder of Kissinger’s one true innovation throughout his career: inventing the for-profit third act of a career in public service. Before him, former policy principals usually wrote a memoir, gave the occasional foreign policy speech, and maybe became the head of a nonprofit. Kissinger was always hungrier. As I wrote in The Ideas Industry, “The traditional route for ex-policy principals was to take a sinecure at a think tank. A successful for-profit consultancy, however, is far more lucrative than a think-tank fellowship. Henry Kissinger pioneered this approach in 1982 when he and Brent Scowcroft founded Kissinger Associates to offer advisory services for corporate clients.” Kissinger’s selling point to clients was his access to the corridors of power — not just in Washington, but Beijing. This also explains why Kissinger has resisted the hawkish turn in U.S. foreign policy towards Russia and China; such a turn threatens his privileged access to world leaders.
You know what corporate clients really want to hear? Exactly the kind of insider gossip that Kissinger trafficked in throughout his entire career. This means that his latest sojourn to Beijing will not just shower him with press coverage but with continued corporate support. He’ll be able to dine out on these latest meetings for months with CEOs. As a savvy media player, Kissinger will no doubt figure out a way to generate multiple media cycles from this trip. I expect no less than a prime-time TV interview and a high-profile magazine essay that might as well be titled, “How I Would Run American Foreign Policy Better.”
The Xi-Kissinger lovefest will not matter a whit when it comes to Sino-American relations. When Republicans are criticizing Biden for being soft on China, you know it’s an inhospitable political climate for China. Both Xi and Kissinger’s preference for a bygone era of Sino-American comity will matter little inside the Beltway. For at least a day, however, Chinese officials could reminisce about the era when the watchword was engagement, and Kissinger can smile that he has maintained his relevancy for yet another news media cycle.
