When you’re running for office, you need to have something to say. But what if you don’t know anything to say?
Such a conundrum has plagued socialist congressional nominee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Mostly all she’s been able to communicate thus far is, “Everything is free, and don’t ask me how.” The “don’t ask me how” part has been inadvertent, as, when asked how, her responses have been the ol’ mumbo jumbo.
Ocasio-Cortez did come up with something other than life-for-free to talk about Sunday: the effects of Hurricane Maria, a year ago, as they relate to the administration of Donald Trump.
Ocasio-Cortez took to left-wing-lovin’ CNN to attempt a making of political hay:
“What we saw in Puerto Rico was a mass death of 3,000 people. It was the worst humanitarian crisis in modern American history and many, many people impacted by this storm point to government inaction as the cause of death.”
Alexandria told State of the Union that her mother is Puerto Rican and her grandfather was killed in the storm. She also claimed America is in the position of colonial rule over the Caribbean island, having committed “chronic neglect” during the storm that (recently) reportedly took nearly 3,000 lives:
“In the neglect and government inaction, there was so little response, so little connection.”
In fact, Ocasio-Cortez insisted, the Trump administration treated Puerto Ricans as less than American:
“It’s acute situations like this in which Puerto Ricans continue to be treated like second-class citizens.”
“In the neglect and government inaction there was so little response, so little connection,” says New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, describing how her grandfather died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/HMwcHtxqEo
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 16, 2018
The death toll from the hurricane, according to the Puerto Rican government, was 64 — until, that is, a George Washington University study reported in August that nearly 3,000 people died during the storm and within a six-month aftermath period.
Trump has deeply questioned the validity of that study:
“‘When Trump visited the island territory last October, OFFICIALS told him in a briefing 16 PEOPLE had died from Maria.’ The Washington Post. This was long AFTER the hurricane took place. Over many months it went to 64 PEOPLE. Then, like magic, ‘3000 PEOPLE KILLED.’ They hired GWU Research to tell them how many people had died in Puerto Rico (how would they not know this?). This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed. FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER – NO WAY!”
“When Trump visited the island territory last October, OFFICIALS told him in a briefing 16 PEOPLE had died from Maria.” The Washington Post. This was long AFTER the hurricane took place. Over many months it went to 64 PEOPLE. Then, like magic, “3000 PEOPLE KILLED.” They hired….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018
….GWU Research to tell them how many people had died in Puerto Rico (how would they not know this?). This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed. FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER – NO WAY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018
FEMA Administrator Brock Long appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday to back the President:
“I don’t know why the studies were done. … The numbers are all over the place. FEMA doesn’t count deaths. And if you take what’s going on with (current hurricane) Florence, the deaths that are verified by the local county coroners are the ones that we take. … The GW study looked at what happened six months after the fact. … You might see more deaths indirectly occur as time goes on because people have heart attacks due to stress, they fall off their house trying to fix their roof, they die in car crashes because they went through an intersection where the stoplights weren’t working.”
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz has slammed Trump’s refutation of the death count, calling him “delusional.” She has her own shady past, however. Having warred with The Donald during Maria, the media lavished her with praise, leading to an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She used the guest spot to lie about helping a desperate man in a kayak. See here for the ridiculous story.
Speaking of ridiculous, back to socialism: Ocasio-Cortez is attempting a leverage of the Puerto Rican tragedy. Hopefully, such maneuvers won’t allow her a seat at the political table. If more like Alexandria follow, we could one day be consumed by a monsoon of government tyranny.
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