Former AOC Comms Director: Do You Know Who Cheered On The Muslim Brotherhood In The Arab Spring? John McCain
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2026/10/16/former_aoc_comms_director_do_you_know_who_cheered_on_the_muslim_brotherhood_in_the_arab_spring_john_mccain.html

Corbin Trent is a political strategist and co-founder of Justice Democrats who served as the communications director for U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FNC: Okay, Rich. Thank you very much.

With that, we bring in Matt Whitlock, former senior adviser to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Corbin Trent, former communications director for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and founder of A Fight Worth Having PAC. Great to have both of you with us.

Corbin, let me start with you. You know, I asked -- I think one of the reasons that these issues keep sort of dogging El-Sayed is because he is -- has refused to sort of be clear on where he stands. And I think one of the toughest moments for him was the very simple question, I think, who's the greater enemy to the United States, Iran or Israel?

I asked that same question to Pete Buttigieg, who many people think is going to run for president in 2028. He didn't have any problem with it. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: What would your answer have been?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Yes, Iran is our enemy. Israel is not. They're an ally. So, that's pretty clear to me.

There is no candidate, and for that matter, no human being that I agree with 100 percent of the time, but I will be voting for Abdul El-Sayed over Mike Rogers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: All right. Corbin, you know, your thoughts on how this keeps coming up for El-Sayed and why he doesn't, you know, effectively put it to rest like Buttigieg did just there.

CORBIN TRENT, FORMER AOC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I mean, he's put it to rest so many times. It just keeps getting asked and asked and asked. And that's the irritating thing about our media across the board, you know? Everybody wants to talk about fake media, fake media, fake media, fake news. Yes, and it's frustrating to see so much fake news.

You've got people that ask questions that have so little to do with our daily lives. Like I don't know that many people here in East Tennessee that went to bed at night worried about whether or not Iran was going to attack us. It's not something we were concerned about. It's not something I was concerned about.

It's not something that even the National Intelligence director was concerned about. She said when it was happening that the Iranians were not seeking a bomb. Like, you know, the funny thing is that even our intelligence agencies were not concerned about Americans and Iran.

MACCALLUM: I got to jump in, Corbin. I got to jump in. These are just basic questions of American citizens, okay? And especially if you want to be --

TRENT: I don't think they are. What I want to know is, hey, where are you going to get my gas then?

MACCALLUM: You know, if you want to be on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, you have to be able to understand who is our enemy and who is our ally.

TRENT: You do.

MACCALLUM: That is an easy, easy question, okay? You can say, well, I have an issue with, you know, the leadership in Israel right now but it is very easy to answer that question.

TRENT: Our president right now is making deals with Russia for billions of gallon -- or billions of barrels of diesel, even though it's going to do nothing for the American people.

MACCALLUM: And he's getting a lot of pushback for that, and we'll see where that goes. But that's a very important --

TRENT: And then he's also cozying up, he gives -- yes, he gives his praise to North Korean dictators.

I mean, you know, the problem is that you've got this weird --