WASHINGTON, D.C.—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blew up on Twitter, frustrated that the GOP was taking her statements on things like punitively taxing only ten people and that the world is going to end in twelve years as serious positions. “I don’t think I could have been clearer that everything I’ve said is a total joke,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
And it wasn’t just her detractors who were frustrating her, but also her supporters, who do not seem to understand the satire. “Have they not seen the completely ridiculous price tags on my plans?” she asked. “Did they not see that my big plan to save the environment was to give free money to people unwilling to work? Everything I say is for entertainment purposes only. There is no substantive policy or political worldview there whatsoever.”
People taking Ocasio-Cortez seriously has been a problem for her since she first came on the scene. She thought she could fight back by making increasingly ignorant statements and coming up with vastly unworkable plans, but she still finds herself plagued by people taking her literally.
Ocasio-Cortez is working with news networks, though, so that instead of “(D)” appearing after her name, they’ll put “[satire].”