A Washington Free Beacon report highlighting the “posh” trappings of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s lifestyle caused a minor stir on social media on Wednesday.
The story: The Free Beacon’s Andrew Stiles penned the tongue-in-cheek exposé, which described how “sources” had spotted the democratic socialist’s white Tesla parked illegally outside a Whole Foods grocery store near her Washington D.C. residence.
- “The significance of the parking scandal remains to be seen. At the very least, it could undermine Ocasio-Cortez’s credibility in her ongoing quest to transform the United States into a socialist paradise,” Stiles wrote.
- “Her policy adviser, Dan Riffle, wants to abolish billionaires, yet the congresswoman appears to enjoy consuming the products of their capitalist ingenuity. Tesla, for example, is run by a billionaire (Elon Musk), as is Whole Foods (Jeff Bezos).”
- The report also detailed the plush amenities at the New York congresswoman’s apartment complex, where studios rent for upwards of $2,000 a month.
The reaction: Mainstream journalists, Ocasio-Cortez supporters and some commenters on social media failed to grasp the satirical nature of the piece and voiced outrage after Free Beacon executive editor Brent Scher shared the report to Twitter with the caption: “BREAKING EXCLUSIVE.”
- “AOC’s ability to get ineffectually angry guys to beclown themselves remains impressive,” tweeted attorney and Twitter personality Ken “Popehat” White.
- Other political observers, however, eventually got the joke.
- After initially urging Scher to delete the “pathetic and embarrassing” Ocasio-Cortez report, dissident leftist Glenn Greenwald acknowledged he’d misinterpreted the story.
- “The article above, if you read the text rather than just the tweet, is clearly intended as satire,” Greenwald tweeted. “I hate when people react to and comment on headlines and tweets without reading the article but, today, I must declare myself guilty of this offense (though I was far from alone).”
