Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the campus of Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, Nov. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Thanks to a new billboard that went up last week in Times Square, thousands of New Yorkers will know Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made highly misleading claims earlier this month about a recent jobs announcement for New York City from Amazon.
Before we get to what the billboard looks like, let’s recap what she wrote a little over a week ago:
Won’t you look at that: Amazon is coming to NYC anyway – *without* requiring the public to finance shady deals, helipad handouts for Jeff Bezos, & corporate giveaways.
Maybe the Trump admin should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families. https://t.co/BbqhXbB9MM
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 6, 2019
Me waiting on the haters to apologize after we were proven right on Amazon and saved the public billions https://t.co/AC64pG0nZI pic.twitter.com/xzCepkX4AV
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 6, 2019
She was using the announcement as a vindication of sorts for what happened in February, when Amazon announced it was canceling a deal that would have brought 25,000 jobs to NYC, with the location being in her Congressional district. AOC was a vocal opponent of the deal, and was cited by economic experts as one of the primary reasons Amazon made the decision to cancel. She was roundly criticized when it happened.
However, there are two huge problems with her declaring victory this month over the new news. In reality, the new deal brings along with it 1,500 jobs. Not the 25,000 the original deal that was canceled back in February would have brought. Also, unlike the previous deal, the jobs will not be in her Congressional district, as Twitter users like this one pointed out:
So instead of 25,000 middle class jobs in long island city, an area that is dying and. Its 1,500 white collar jobs in downtown Manhattan. Winning.
— Peter Simple (@PeterSimple5) December 6, 2019
She tried to double down in the midst of the intense criticism she received over her misleading claims this month – but even with that she got dunked again.
But though AOC can ignore Twitter users who provide inconvenient facts that provide valuable context for her misleading or sometimes outright false arguments, one thing she can’t ignore are giant billboards in Times Square. Like the one alerting the thousands of people who stroll through Times Square on any given day as to just how “fuzzy” AOC’s math was when it came to the new Amazon NYC jobs announcement:
While @AOC continues to brag about beating Amazon,
It’s important to point out that a win in her mind is losing her constituents 23,500 jobs.
In what world is that considered a win?#SocialismTakesCapitalismCreates pic.twitter.com/eipmepuRHF
— Job Creators Network (@JobCreatorsUSA) December 10, 2019
As Alex Parker noted back in February at the time Amazon announced their plans to nix the 25,000 job deal, Job Creators Network put up two billboards. One noting how much money and jobs she’d cost the city, and the second one responding to a tweet she posted critical of JCN:
Few things effectively communicate the power we’ve built in fighting dark money & anti-worker policies like billionaire-funded groups blowing tons of cash on wack billboards (this one is funded by the Mercers).
(PS fact that it’s in Times Sq tells you this isn’t for/by NYers.) https://t.co/B4QTPi1r2k
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 21, 2019
Their response:
“Hey AOC, Saw your wack tweet. … [T]his billboard cost about $4,000. But you cost NY 25,000 jobs and $4,000,000,000 in annual lost wages. Ouch!”
Conservative group claps back at AOC with new Times Square billboard https://t.co/qjOBuwOz0z pic.twitter.com/l87g6oGgIo
— New York Post (@nypost) February 22, 2019
In a press release last week, JCN noted that the 1,500 jobs announcement from Amazon was a good thing, but that it was a far cry from what could have been had it not been for AOC, who they say “really deserves … a failing grade in basic math” instead of the laughable apology she demanded.
JCN was founded, in part, by Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. The Woke Mafia went after him over the summer after it was revealed that he was a staunch supporter of President Trump’s.
Marcus, who is 90, responded to the “outrage” and boycott threats by not mincing words:
It saddens me that our country has come to this, where I, as a private citizen, cannot express my feelings. It angers me and it saddens me, but it sure as hell is not going to stop me. If you thought it would, you’ve got the wrong guy.
In the next ten years, God willing, I will accomplish more to save this world than my critics will do even if they had forty lifetimes.
Shorter version: Nevertheless, he persisted.
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