AOC’s Miami vacation controversy is much ado about nothing

All right. Let’s talk about the AOC drama. Now that we’ve had a little bit of an opportunity to kind of let things simmer. Now I have to tell you, I don’t really care where of democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez vacations. I don’t really care whether her partner, boyfriend, husband, the, the guy she’s with where sandals or not. I, I just don’t really care about it, but it has become such a big story in terms of its reaction from the right that I do care about because of their incredible hypocrisy and double standards. Now, I want you guys to understand, I’m gonna explain everything to you in a second, but for context Republicans and right wing media have recently criticized Joe Biden for wearing a mask outside and AOC for not wearing a mask outside. They Tucker did a segment. He criticized in the same hour. He criticizes Biden for wearing a mask outside in AOC for not wearing a mask outside.

So what happened over the new year’s holiday? Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria. Ocasio-Cortez went to Miami, Florida for vacation with her significant other. I believe she has family there. She was photographed and video recorded sitting outside at a restaurant, having a coffee without a mask while her partner wore sandals, which was a big topic of controversy. She was also photographed outside hugging someone. And the hypocrisy that was alleged is she wants all these COVID guidelines and yet she escapes liberal New York and liberal DC, the two places where she lives to go to conservative Florida. So it’s a huge double standard. Now, very often, this is a really teachable moment because very often with these things, um, the devil is in the details and it sounds like, wow, that’s a lot of hypocrisy. She leaves a blue state to go to a red state and she’s not wearing a mask and she’s, but let’s really break it down.

First of all, uh, um, when you talk about Miami Eastern Miami Dade county, it’s one of the most liberal places in the country. So it’s true that Florida is a 50 50 state. It has a Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, very weaponized Republican, by the way. Um, the narrative of she escaped liberal hell holes, New York and DC to go to conservative Florida. She went to Miami, one of the most liberal places in the country. So that narrative is no good. That really shouldn’t be part of the story. Second, there’s the idea that this is the same as when Cancun Ted Cruz, went to Cancun, in the middle of a Texas blackout, for example, or whatever the case may be because there’s, COVID in New York and AOC is escaping to go to Florida. First of all, AOC is not leaving a place with COVID to go to a place without one hospitalizations are up 200% in Florida.

Number two, um, she is part of a legislative body that was in recess at the time for the holiday, but most importantly, Ted Cruz was leaving a place that had no power just to go to a place that had power for himself. It was a much different sort of self-serving contrast with reality versus the house of representatives is off. And she went to visit family in Florida. So that’s kind of a, a dumb argument as well. And then the, the sort of top of, of the heap, the cherry on top is she’s not wearing a mask and it’s rules for the, but not for me. I have not heard AOC say that masking should be required when eating outside. I have been one of the biggest advocates of anybody for wearing masks and indoor vaccin, doing all the things that we’re supposed to do. And I’ve recognized nobody’s really getting this virus outdoors, unless you’re doing really stupid things.

And I’ve been eating outdoors without a mask throughout the pandemic. And so that also doesn’t really seem like a hypocrisy, not to mention you can eat outdoors without a mask in New York city and in Washington in DC, just like you can in Miami. So this is all a fabricated narrative. Now did AOC handle this perfectly? I don’t think she did. One of the things AOC did is she tweeted that the real reason a lot of people are kind of criticizing her and criticizing her partners of flip flops or whatever is deep down. They have sexual frustration and they to be dating her. Now that may well be true for some Republicans that are criticizing her. I’m not denying that it might be true. It comes off as a little pompous and a little arrogant and a little self-centered to say anybody who criticizes me is just really attracted to me.

If I were her, I would’ve skipped that, but on the questions of hypocrisy and all this stuff, the stories are bogus. And I wanna commend one Fox news reporter for actually being honest about this. Charlie Gasparino was brought on to Fox news this week, um, and asked to comment about the hypocrisy of what AOC did. And he said, this is unfair. And the Fox host didn’t like it, but he said she hasn’t been at advocating for masks to be required outdoors. She’s entitled to go to Miami during a vacation. She’s following all the guidelines. She’s doing everything it’s it actually is unfair. So kudos to Charlie Gasparino for being the one voice that I saw on Fox news, willing to actually tell the truth about it. But what, uh, trumped up where there is truly nothing to talk about.