"As A Person Who Actually Worked" For A Wage, AOC Clapped Back At Ivanka Trump
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might be in line for the queen of the clapback, because she never shies away from laying down the truth when someone calls her out. While most of us already know that Ocasio-Cortez's Twitter game is on point, some people have yet to learn that lesson. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clapped back at Ivanka Trump's comments on the Green New Deal in that AOC way, and she called out Trump for only having learned about an hourly wage "second-hand." Um, burn?
Trump put herself in Ocasio-Cortez's crosshairs during a Feb. 25 interview with Fox News. Ocasio-Cortez is championing the Green New Deal — which, among climate-centered goals, also "[guarantees] a job with a family-sustaining wage." When Trump was asked about the Green New Deal's jobs guarantee in her interview, she said she doesn't "think most Americans in their heart want to be given something," which is a little confusing, as the thing being "given" would be an opportunity to work. The White House did not offer a response to Elite Daily's request for comment at the time. She told Fox News,
I've spent a lot of time traveling around this country over the last four years. People want to work for what they get, so I think this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want. They want the ability to be able to secure a job. They want the ability to live in a country where there's the potential for upward mobility.
Following Trump's Fox News comments, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter and used her own experience to clapback at the Trump heiress. The freshman representative said she has first-hand experience with "tips and hourly wages" and knows what most of those people want. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Feb. 26,
As a person who actually worked for tips & hourly wages in my life, instead of having to learn about it 2nd-hand, I can tell you that most people want to be paid enough to live. A living wage isn’t a gift, it’s a right. Workers are often paid far less than the value they create.
Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment or any response, but did not immediately hear back.
Ocasio-Cortez was famously working as a bartender before her meteoric rise to be elected to Congress, so she's definitely put her hourly-money where her mouth is on the issue of a living wage.
It's definitely a little ironic for Trump to criticize the idea of people being "given" jobs, as she has famously worked for her father the majority of her adult life. Prior to moving into a White House office, where she serves as senior adviser to her father, Trump was in charge of development and acquisitions at her family company, the Trump Organization. While the first daughter may be a hard worker, and may have been good at her job, it's difficult to deny that she probably would have had a much harder time getting into either role if her name wasn't "Trump."
On Feb. 7 Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) announced a formal outline for a policy package known as the Green New Deal, which sets to overhaul the economy in order to eliminate all U.S. carbon emission, according to NPR. While the bill can be seen as an environmental effort, it's really about ending the separation between climate change and the economy and realizing that they are not separate issues. The bill looks to create goals for securing clean air, water, and healthy foods for generations to come, promoting investment in "clean" manufacturing and a goal of reaching "net-zero greenhouse gas emissions" by moving to renewable energy and overhauling the transportation system to eliminate pollution. However, it also seeks "to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States. The Green New Deal also makes a guarantee for the creation of jobs with "family-sustaining wages," the hiring of local employees, and career advancement.
The economic side of the bill — including the job promise — highlights the fact that the working class and lower-income communities are most vulnerable to the risks brought on by climate change, like the effects of natural disasters or droughts. So, it's doing a lot.
The Green New Deal is definitely trying to tackle a lot of huge issues, but judging by her response to Trump, it's super personal for Ocasio-Cortez. She's clearly working hard to make it happen.
