Ocasio-Cortez levels ‘scared’ Trump for his misguided attack during SOTU

Ocasio-Cortez

President Donald Trump took a shot at socialism on Tuesday night during his State of the Union address, and got promptly buried for it by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Trump’s speech overall lacked substance and seemed to be more like a campaign rally speech instead of the kind of inspiring speech full of policy initiatives that past presidents have delivered.

What he did do is pander to conservatives and the ultra-rich masters they serve by attacking socialism.

“We are born free, and we will stay free,” Trump said. “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”

He would go on to use Venezuela as an example to claim that socialism could not possibly work in the United States.

Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, took offense to Trump’s attack while speaking to reporters after the SOTU ended.

“I think he’s scared,” she said. “He sees that everything is closing in on him. And he knows he’s losing the battle of public opinion when it comes to the actual substantive proposals that we’re advancing to the public… Everything is about what he doesn’t want. Everything is about the boogeyman.”

She went into further detail during an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews.

“Every single policy proposal that we have adopted and presented to the American public has been overwhelmingly popular, even some with the majority of Republican voters,” she said. “When we talk about a 70 percent marginal tax rate on incomes over $10 million, 60 percent of Americans approve it.”

Indeed, her tax plan is exceedingly popular, so much so that even Fox News polls show it has wide support, even from Republican voters.

“Seventy percent of Americans believe in improved and expanded Medicare for All,” she continued. “A very large amount of Americans believe that we need to do something about climate change, and that it is an existential threat to ourselves and to our children. What we really need to realize is that this is an issue of an authoritarian regime versus democracy.”

Here’s the video via Twitter.

Trump is obviously afraid of socialist policies just like many Republican lawmakers. But America has adopted many socialist policies before that have been enduringly popular such as Medicare, Social Security, progressive tax rates, the Federal Highway system, Medicaid, and more.

Venezuela’s socialist policies did not fail. Its authoritarian government did. Democratic socialism works extremely well. Just ask Norway, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, all of which have instituted socialist policies that have stood the test of time and turned those nations into some of the happiest places to live.

America could have that, but Trump isn’t offering it. The Democrats, led by Ocasio-Cortez, are.

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