Left-wing commentator Briahna Joy Gray is sounding the alarm over what she sees as an unsettling political realignment on the American left, one that could leave progressive voters gravitating toward a populist conservative like Tucker Carlson rather than a progressive darling such as Democratic Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in a future presidential race.
During an episode of her Bad Faith podcast, the former press secretary for Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermonts 2020 presidential campaign told journalist Sana Saeed that many liberals would happily back Carlson over Ocasio-Cortez in a hypothetical 2028 contest. As reported by Western Journal, Gray put it bluntly: Its crazy. I know many people on the left who would happily vote for Tucker Carlson before AOC, a confession that underscores how deeply disillusioned parts of the left have become with their own political standard-bearers.
Gray then laid bare her own discomfort with that possibility, making clear that she wants no part in boosting either figure. I am frustrated by that dynamic because I dont want Tucker Carlson to be president, she said. I also cant see myself damaging my own credibility by telling someone to vote for AOC. These options hurt us all.
Despite her misgivings, Gray tried to explain why Carlson might be gaining traction with disaffected progressives, even as she denounced some of his past rhetoric. She referred to some of Carlsons earlier comments on immigration as bigoted, accusing him of using dog whistles, yet she acknowledged that many voters may now see only his more recent persona.
I can see him only being known by his most recent self and therefore being quite appealing to a lot of Americans that might actually take umbrage against his past race positions, Gray said. Carlsons most recent self, in her telling, is the version who has sharply criticized Americas relationship with Israel and broken with President Donald Trump over the Iran war and other foreign-policy questions.
That repositioning has created an unusual overlap between parts of the populist right and the anti-establishment left, particularly on Israel. If Carlson runs, Saeed observed, a huge part of it is going to be Israel, arguing that the establishment media cannot defeat him on that issue because he immediately and rightly, thats the sad part he immediately calls out their hypocrisy.
In effect, Gray and Saeed find themselves aligned with Carlson on Israel while opposing him on much of the broader conservative agenda, a tension that fuels their anxiety about his potential 2028 bid. Their discussion, which viewers can watch in full, featured the relevant exchange beginning around the 1:08:30 mark of the episode.
Ocasio-Cortez, whom Gray explicitly refused to endorse, has repeatedly stumbled when pressed on serious foreign-policy matters, reinforcing doubts about her readiness for higher office. At the same time, a small but vocal group on the right has emerged as critics of Trumps Middle East policy, including Carlson, podcasters Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and Alex Jones; Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky; former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia; and former Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent.
President Trump has not hesitated to fire back at these detractors on social media and in public remarks, underscoring that the dominant conservative movement remains firmly aligned with his more traditional pro-Israel, peace-through-strength posture. By contrast, the left has produced no figure of comparable prominence willing to challenge Trumps foreign policy from its own ranks, leaving critics like Gray stranded between a faltering progressive establishment and a dissident right that shares only a narrow slice of their agenda.
That vacuum of leadership on the left, combined with Ocasio-Cortezs foreign-policy weaknesses and Carlsons sharpened critique of the bipartisan foreign-policy consensus, helps explain why some progressives are drifting toward a conservative firebrand they once reviled. For Gray, the prospect that many on the left might happily choose Carlson over AOC is less a curiosity than a warning sign of a fractured coalition, one that could reshape the 2028 landscape in ways that unsettle both traditional Democrats and defenders of President Trumps America First vision.
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