AOC Picks a Fight with Sen. Rubio - and He Makes Her Wish She Hadn't
New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t have a particularly good week last week vis-a-vis conservative media.
When it came out early in the week that her campaign was selling sweatshirts that said “Tax the Rich” for almost $60 — a tax on the rich, it must be said — pretty much everyone on the right had a field day with her.
Things didn’t get better when Ocasio-Cortez defended herself by tweeting that “Republicans are freaking out bc we don’t use slave-wage labor for merch that funds grassroots organizing.”
Things didn’t get much better when she got into a Twitter war with Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
The showdown began after AOC criticized the federal government for giving a Paycheck Protection Program loan to Project Veritas, the conservative documentary investigative journalism outfit, currently in the news after managing to record months of CNN’s editorial calls.
Republicans are freaking out bc we don’t use slave-wage labor for merch that funds grassroots organizing.
But what’s the difference between Trump’s merch and ours?
Ours is made in the US. ??
(& for GOP who joke that we shld give ? for free, we actually do – just volunteer ?) https://t.co/35DnbFYQyC
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 3, 2020
“Black-owned small businesses were widely shut out from accessing PPP loans, yet right-wing disinfo org PV took half a million in public money while decrying direct federal assistance as ‘radical socialism,’” she tweeted.
“Republicanism in a nutshell,” she added.
Black-owned small businesses were widely shut out from accessing PPP loans, yet right-wing disinfo org PV took half a million in public money while decrying direct federal assistance as “radical socialism.”
Republicanism in a nutshell.
(Also they’re based in Mamaroneck?! ?) https://t.co/JARqvhgBmD
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 3, 2020
Yes, apparently, it stunned AOC that conservative documentarians could get PPP loans, too. What kind of dystopian world is this, anyway? Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe noted that his organization “did not CHOOSE to have our employees, working families, livelihoods jeopardized by [New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s] shutdown.”
We did not CHOOSE to have our employees, working families, livelihoods jeopardized by @NYGovCuomo shutdown.
We operate without fear or favor. We Will NEVER bow to political pressure from you, NYState or the feds. We do not prostitute ourselves to a commercial imperative.#Gulag pic.twitter.com/rLHoFUdOrk
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 3, 2020
“We operate without fear or favor. We Will NEVER bow to political pressure from you, NYState or the feds. We do not prostitute ourselves to a commercial imperative,” he added.
However, Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio also jumped in, pointing out that the 50-odd Project Veritas employees who were helped out by the PPP loan were part of the 55 million Americans whose jobs were saved through the program, according to the Small Business Administration.
Working together R’s & D’s helped save the jobs of 55 million Americans through PPP
Work more, tweet less & one day you too can make a difference https://t.co/WprW5OR9LP
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 3, 2020
“Work more, tweet less & one day you too can make a difference,” Rubio said, noting Republicans and Democrats had worked together on the plan.
The jibe about tweeting — apart from the obvious fact that social media seems to be AOC’s core competency — is assumedly related to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia taking a dig at Ocasio-Cortez after she tweeted a picture of her shooting an icy stare at the more moderate Democrat.
“I guess she put the dagger stare on me,” Manchin said last week in an interview with The New York Times.
“I don’t know the young lady — I really don’t. I never met her. I’m understanding she’s not that active with her bills or in committee. She’s more active on Twitter than anything else.”
Apparently smarting, AOC hit back:
Yesterday I recruited 5,000 volunteers to train and tutor kids in my community who are struggling with remote learning, and that was after investigating the Treasury Secretary’s rationale for stopping CARES Act funding and voting on House legislation.
What did you do? https://t.co/Ytkq6qZKiI
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 3, 2020
“Yesterday I recruited 5,000 volunteers to train and tutor kids in my community who are struggling with remote learning, and that was after investigating the Treasury Secretary’s rationale for stopping CARES Act funding and voting on House legislation,” she tweeted Thursday.
“What did you do?”
Remember the old lawyerly adage:
Don’t ask a question you don’t know the answer to.
“Apologies for late response,” Rubio tweeted Friday morning.
“Was busy this week helping a Floridian get travel documents to see his dying sister,a high schooler whose mother died get SSI benefits,a specialist for a child with a crazy Obamacare deductible & negotiating Intelligence bill & another round of PPP.”
Apologies for late response
Was busy this week helping a Floridian get travel documents to see his dying sister,a high schooler whose mother died get SSI benefits,a specialist for a child with a crazy Obamacare deductible & negotiating Intelligence bill & another round of PPP https://t.co/HlsFeQHp3m
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 4, 2020
Oh, well, sure — but did you know you could help those people with those high deductibles by making insurance free? Those high premiums would become high taxes, but oh well.
In short, I stand corrected: Perhaps social media isn’t one of AOC’s core competencies, after all.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
