Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ SXSW 2019 by nrkbeta, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal is apparently so bad (“how bad is it?”) that even her own party won’t touch it with a ten-foot pole, but instead of flat out voting “no,” they voted “present.” An interesting turn of events, but a revealing one.

According to National Review, Democrats considered the floor vote on the Green New Deal a “sham,” and thus decided to vote “present” instead of for it. This, however, was called out by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who wasn’t buying it, and pointed out that in reality they just don’t want to be seen voting for it:

According to reporting from the Washington Post, Democrats have called McConnell’s decision to bring the bill to the floor a “sham,” but the minority leader had little sympathy for this claim: “Do you believe it’s a prescription for America?” McConnell said. “Then why would you not want to vote for it? A vote for ‘present’ is a vote for it.”

At a press conference for the Green New Deal today, the Senate bill’s primary sponsor Ed Markey (D., Mass.), claimed he stood behind the proposal. “It is the national-security, economic, health-care and moral issue of our time,” he said. But Markey, along with 52 of his fellow Democrats, failed to vote for it.

As hilarious as this is, it does tell us a tale when compared to other pieces of information we have received in regards to what’s going on behind the curtain with Democratic politicians.

For one, every Senator in the 2020 presidential running is a co-sponsor on Markey’s Senate version of the Green New Deal, yet not one of them voted in favor of it. Meanwhile, we’re getting reports from behind Democratic lines that many of the candidates are feeling “pressured” to back radical legislation like this.

If they don’t, they will lose what they believe is their voting bloc, specifically the very loud and present radical youth sect of the Democratic party.

“It’s a litmus test for Democrats and it’s essential for any candidate who wants to earn the youth vote to show that they’re ready to stand up for our generation’s future,” said Stephen O’Hanlon of climate advocacy organization Sunrise Movement.

Democrats believe that if they are seen distancing themselves from things like the Green New Deal, then they’ll be kissing their 2020 aspirations goodbye. Add to it the fact that Ocasio-Cortez is threatening Democrats with activist retribution should they take a moderate stance on anything.

Democrats are hiding behind the excuse that Republicans are putting together a “sham” vote to not put their actual “yes” on record, but in truth, they would likely vote “no” a thousand times over if there wasn’t a figurative gun to their head.

Considering these facts, Democrats aren’t as radical as they’re pretending to be, at least on certain issues. The push to be head as far left as possible seems to be driven by fear of irrelevancy. Funny enough, 2020 Democrats likely have more to lose by following Ocasio-Cortez’s lead than not.

As I previously reported, CNN discovered that former Democrats are jumping ship due to the radicalism of Ocasio-Cortez and the Democratic party’s embracing of her ideals. What’s more, a third of Democrats have said they’ll leave the party should a more moderate candidate arise in a third party that closely fits their ideals.

What Republicans did with this vote is rip back the curtain and expose a Democratic party that is shaking in its boots in the face of a former bartender from New York with very loud, very angry friends.

It’s clear who is running the party.