New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has no end of PR magic flowing through her social media accounts, but on one of her most recent rampages against conservatives, she might have gone just a little too far.
Ocasio-Cortez makes no secret of her hatred for former President Donald Trump. She also makes no bones about thinking everything that is happening in the world today is because of global climate change. The “perfect storm” of those two hatreds was Hurricane Maria that devastating portions of Ocasio-Cortez’s beloved Puerto Rico, where some of her family still lives.
While Ocasio-Cortez is not herself native of the island territories, she is vocal about her Latina background and like everything in her life, makes it quite political. However, one zealous reporter looking to verify Ocasio-Cortez’s most recent diatribe against the former president might have caught the New York Democrat in an outright lie.
Ocasio-Cortez began to point fingers after visiting her grandmother in Puerto Rico, after which she posted a photo of her Abuela’s home which was in shambles, according to Ocasio-Cortez, due solely to the 2017 storm, Hurrican Maria and its devastation.
“Just over a week ago, my Abuela fell ill. I went to Puerto Rico to see her- my 1st time in a year+ bc of COVID. This is her home. Hurricane María relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“In the aftermath of María, the Trump admin oversaw two key items: handing millions in public $ to unqualified donor pals (ex Whitefish). The other was to impose extremely difficult eligibility rules for Puerto Ricans, which allowed mass rejections of recovery fund applications,” she alleged.
So, to recap, the storm that took place four years ago devastated the area, and the former president for some unknown reason decided to keep funding from the area, sending it to an unknown place for an unknown period of time.
But not to worry, a spunky reporter from the Daily Mail decided to trust bu verify Ocasio-Cortez’s story and tracked down the house that belongs to Ocasio-Cortez’s grandmother. However, when the reporter showed up, a person outside, who identified themselves as AOC’s aunt, had a very different story than what the spotlight-hungry Bronx native told the world on Twitter.
“I am her aunt. We don’t speak for the community.” The relative, who refused to give her name, added according to the Daily Mail reported that the aunt said. “We are private people, we don’t talk about our family.”
The reporter went on to say that “Ironically for AOC, she also refused to blame former President Donald Trump for thousands of Hurricane Maria victims being unable to get money to repair shattered homes.”
According to AOC’s self-proclaimed tiá, Washington was prompt with their aid, however, the distribution once on the islands was not what it would have been and people never got what the federal government sent.
“It’s a problem here in Puerto Rico with the administration and the distribution of help. It is not a problem with Washington. We had the assistance and it didn’t get to the people,” the supposed aunt said.
Though it’s no doubt a whole lot more fun to blame the leader of the opposite party when things go wrong, what some progressives need to remember is that even the undecided people will still view the problem through the eyes of taxpayers that might need to fund whatever solution is decided upon.
AOC seems to feel that she can point the finger without offering facts or solutions and she is at best ill-informed and at worst a political hack looking to further herself through lies. While we could hope for the former, more evidence has piled up that seems to point to the latter.
In what was no doubt a move with twofold possible gain, Conservative commentator Matt Walsh made a move to try to help AOC’s Abuela, who according to the 30-something politician was in bad need. The conservative radio personality raised more than $100,000 after Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet but according to The Blaze, someone in Ocasio-Cortez’s family turned the money down:
Welsh explained: “‘Someone’ in AOC’s Abuela’s family told GoFundMe that she won’t take the money, even though AOC previously claimed that her grandma was in dire straits (and it was Trump’s fault).”
So, who’s to blame? Maybe it depends on who you ask, but one thing’s for certain, it’s not always as it seems and one should always look for outside verification when it comes to a minimal with a Twitter account and an ax to grind.
