Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Responds to Republicans Calling Her 'Just a Waitress' After Ivanka Tweet: 'What Is so Appalling to GOP About Having an Honest Job?'

Authored by newsweek.com and submitted by StrategicMindz
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continues to hit out at those who criticize her for working as a bartender before she was elected to Congress in 2018. The New York Democrat was mocked online after she tweeted her own criticism of Ivanka Trump in response to a video which went viral over the weekend.

The president's daughter was seen joining in a conversation between British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, and International Monetary Fund Chairwoman Christine Lagarde during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

"It may be shocking to some, but being someone's daughter actually isn't a career qualification," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "It hurts our diplomatic standing when the President phones it in & the world moves on. The U.S. needs our President working the G20. Bringing a qualified diplomat couldn't hurt either."

Former CNN presenter Piers Morgan was one of those who scorned Ocasio-Cortez for mocking the white house adviser, writing "Could be worse...Ivanka could have been a bar-tender 18 months ago" in reply to her tweet.

Ocasio-Cortez originally responded to Morgan's message by suggesting the government would be in a better position if more people worked regular jobs prior to be being elected.

"Imagine if more people in power spent years of their lives actually working for a living," she wrote. "We'd probably have healthcare and living wages by now."

Several hours later, Ocasio-Cortez further defended her previous employment, saying she is proud of her work in restaurants.

"I also worked for Sen. Ted Kennedy, piloted literacy projects in the South Bronx, studied Development Economics in W Africa, served as an Educational Director & won international science competitions before I ran for office, too," she tweeted.

"Working people that GOP dismiss as 'just a waitress/cook/etc' contain multitudes, & are just as capable & intelligent as anyone. Classism—judging someone's character by their income—is disappointing to see from them.

"What is so appalling to GOP about having an honest job? Some of the most nuanced, intelligent, & grounded people I've ever met weren't at BU, MIT or Harvard events when I was a student. They were the plumbers & waitresses I hung out with at happy hour, who had ferocious intellectual curiosity *and* a lived context of the real world.

"In other words, Republicans who criticize my being a waitress as evidence of lacking skill can take their classism to the trash. You are insulting the capacities and potential of virtually every working person in America (& the world) for having experience that's earned, not bought. (And that's if they even take out their own trash, which I doubt)."

Ocasio-Cortez, who previously worked at the Flats Fix restaurant in the Manhattan area of New York, returned to bartending for a shift at a bar in Queens last month in order to show support for a campaign to raise the minimum wage.

TJ_McWeaksauce on July 1st, 2019 at 13:01 UTC »

Former CNN presenter Piers Morgan was one of those who scorned Ocasio-Cortez for mocking the white house adviser, writing "Could be worse...Ivanka could have been a bar-tender 18 months ago" in reply to her tweet.

Let's ignore, for a moment, that this response came from a human polyp. It really doesn't make sense in any context.

A bartender working her way all the way up to the US Congress? Not only is that impressive, that's also the goddamn American Dream. Why are these assholes shitting on the American Dream?

This Representative was a working class citizen as recently as 18 months ago, huh? That means she should know what a working class citizen goes through, what they think, and what they need, right? Wouldn't those things help a Representative, you know, represent?

Who are you more likely to trust and respect: a person who worked her way up from bartender to Representative before she turned 30, or a person who was born into wealth and got handed her super-important job by her dumb-ass dad?

Finally, when a piece of shit GOP politician, rather than a piece of shit TV personality, mocks AOC for being a bartender, that's a spit in the eye of many voters, both conservative, liberal, and in-between. Conservatives go to bars, too, don't they? Or is it only liberals who like to get their drink on?

There are over 600,000 bartenders working in the US today. Why mock a profession with that many potential voters?

Meanwhile, the coal industry employs about 50,000 miners in the US, which is, obviously, a fraction of the bartender number. The GOP bends over backwards to appeal to the voters who work in a dying industry, yet they'll mock a profession that's been around for as long as alcohol has been a thing, and that won't ever go away?

Yeah, this insult don't make no sense.

rooktakesqueen on July 1st, 2019 at 12:22 UTC »

AOC is qualified to be a representative because the people of her district voted for her. I don't recall anyone electing Ivanka Trump

Aazadan on July 1st, 2019 at 12:17 UTC »

For a party that sure does like to claim they represent blue collar folks, they sure like to attack people with those backgrounds.