If there’s one thing that unifies conservatives, it’s their endless quest to harass Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The freshman Congresswoman has a lot going for her: policies that actually make sense, a great social media presence, and a personality that people actually, well, like. For these reasons, it seems, people on the right can’t wait to bring her down. “Nude” pictures (allegedly) of her feet? Dancing in college? Having a nickname in high school? Scandal attempts she was, luckily, able to stomp out.
The latest attempt happened on Valentine’s Day. Like most of these faux scandals, it took off on Twitter, and that’s also where Rep. Ocasio-Cortez put it to rest.
Here’s how it shook out.
A user identified as Luke Thompson on Twitter posted this tweet, along with a screenshot:
It went viral among the right. Before long, Katrina Pierson, a senior Trump advisor for 2020, got in on the social media wave, sharing:
Does Roberts (who is, in fact, Ocasio-Cortez’s boyfriend) now have a cushy government job all thanks to her insider connections? No. As reported by the Washington Post, a spokesperson for the chamber’s Office of the Chief Administrative Officer clarified, “from time to time, at the request of members, spouses and partners are provided House email accounts for the purposes of viewing the member’s calendar.”
Also speaking to the Post, Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, said:
“Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s partner, Mr. Roberts, has no official position, paid or otherwise, with her congressional office. Members of Congress have very tightly scheduled calendars that their family members and partners are allowed to access to make personal plans around official schedules.”
When Ocasio-Cortez responded herself, she said basically the same thing:
Would Ocasio-Cortez have even a quarter of this hysteria if she were a white man? We all know the answer to that.