How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Strikes Back at Her Critics

The congresswoman-elect turns each attack into a chance to show her social-media deftness.

ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

On Monday, CNBC published an investigation into the personal finances of New York congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which revealed that the 29-year-old has less than $7,000 in savings.

The story, which was roundly criticized as condescending, ultimately determined that while normal for her age and background, Ocasio-Cortez’s finances were far from ideal. “I hope, now that she will be making $174,000 in the House, she will save more of her money,” one financial planner told CNBC. “Washington is an expensive place to live, though.”

The story came days after a reporter from the conservative Washington Examiner tweeted a photo of Ocasio-Cortez and questioned how the Bronx native could afford to buy the black jacket she was wearing. “I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles,” the reporter, Eddie Scarry, wrote in the since-deleted tweet.

These pseudo-scandals add to a rapidly expanding list of conservative attacks directed at Ocasio-Cortez since she stunned the political world in June by unseating Rep. Joe Crowley, a powerful 10-term incumbent, in the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th Congressional District. The attacks, which are regularly featured on Fox News, often rely on sexism or stereotypes of what economic struggle should look like in hopes of undermining Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive credentials.

But Ocasio-Cortez has turned nearly every new salvo aimed in her direction into an opportunity to demonstrate her deftness at shutting down critics, especially on social media. Here’s her response on Tuesday, one day after CNBC published its story:

The retort not only dismisses the attention paid to her personal finances; it also demands that the spotlight be cast on far more consequential issues, including evidence that President Donald Trump’s family engaged in illegal schemes to avoid paying taxes. (That bombshell investigation was swallowed up in the relentless news cycle.)

Soon after, Ocasio-Cortez also struck back at Sarah Palin, after the former governor of Alaska linked to a story claiming Ocasio-Cortez had fumbled a “basic civics” statement. 

And here she is in July after a conservative pundit posted a photo of a house she grew up in. “A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling,” John Cardillo wrote, as if he had uncovered damaging intel that destroyed Ocasio-Cortez’s personal story. This was her sharp response:

It’s safe to assume that the political spotlight will remain on Ocasio-Cortez, and likely intensify, as she takes her place in Congress in January. But each new attack gives Ocasio-Cortez a chance to hone her social media presenceā€”a respite from the daily, far less artful Twitter mutterings of the president.

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

And we need readers to show up for us big timeā€”again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who wonā€™t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its futureā€”you.

And we need readers to show up for us big timeā€”again.

Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate