AOC Doubles Down on Insane Questioning, Doesn't Understand Liability

Yesterday, Brandon Morse covered the hilarious questioning of a Wells Fargo CEO by de-facto Democratic leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In it, she tried to blame Wells Fargo for the supposed “caging of children” at the border. His answer was classic.

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) asks Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan: "Why was the bank involved in the caging of children and financing the caging of children to begin with?"

Sloan: "I don't know how to answer that question because we weren't." pic.twitter.com/0ecaOAvvu8

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 12, 2019

If that were all, it’d have been hilarious enough. But AOC is a giving person so she decided to give us even more ridiculous fodder in her questioning. For example, Ocasio-Cortez decided to show the world that she has no idea how liability works.

.@RepAOC @AOC: "So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn't Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?"@WellsFargo CEO Timothy Sloan: "Because we don't operate the pipeline." pic.twitter.com/TqXQD0WGwA

— CSPAN (@cspan) March 12, 2019

Here’s the full exchange as reported by The Daily Wire.

“Should Wells Fargo be held responsible for the damages incurred by Climate Change due to the financing of fossil fuels and these projects?” Ocasio-Cortez asked.

“I don’t know how’d you calculate that, Congresswoman,” Sloan responded.

“Say from spills, or when we have to reinvest in infrastructure building sea walls from the erosion of, um, from the erosion of infrastructure or cleanups, wildfires, etc…,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“Related to that pipeline?” Sloan replied. “I’m not aware that there’s been any of what you’ve described that’s occurred that’s related to that pipeline.”

Growing frustrated, Ocasio-Cortez talked over Sloan as he finished answering her question, asking, “How about, uh, the cleans up from the leaks of the Dakota Access pipeline?”

“I’m not aware of the leaks associated with the Dakota Access pipeline that you’re describing,” Sloan responded.

“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the clean up of it since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?”

“Because we don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan answered.

This is dumb on so many levels. First, how is a finance company responsible for the faults of something they finance? By that logic, does the bank owe you a new car every time you ram it into a pole? The bank lends money for one reason and that’s to make money on interest. It’s not the bank’s job to micro-manage projects they lend toward. Secondly, if such standards existed, finance companies wouldn’t be able to lend to anyone for fear of liability. This would effectively destroy the economy, something AOC has been very good at suggesting lately (see The New Green Deal).

This is the reason why liberals pushed so hard to allow gun violence victims to sue gun manufacturers. They knew it would put them out of business. The same would happen to banks if they were held responsible for every project they financed. You could kiss the ability to get a mortgage, a car loan, a small business loan, or school loan goodbye. Ocasio-Cortez, in all her lack of knowledge, either can’t grasp that consequence or she simply doesn’t care. Probably both.

If that weren’t embarrassing enough for AOC, she decided to double down on twitter.

Sea walls will have to go up as seas rise. Wildfires to put out. Roads repaved. Nascent technology to explore. Electrical grids replaced.

It’s too late for us to not have to deal w/ the impact of climate change. At this point we shouldn’t be debating IF we do it, it’s how.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2019

She’s really not good at this.

What does a pipeline spill have to do with climate change? If we are talking about the direct consequences of a spill, as she cites here, then the answer is nothing. Conflating issues is a weak debate tactic and it’s one of AOC’s favorite past-times. It should also be noted that she’s simply not telling the truth. We don’t have “unstable” pipelines. We have incredibly safe, efficient pipelines that almost never have an environmental impact. Furthermore, those pipelines are far safer and more environmentally friendly than shipping oil only on trains, boats, and trucks.

Again, she either doesn’t care about the unintended consequences of what she’s saying or she’s just too ill-informed to see them. Either way, destruction of the economy to soothe her climate change cultism is not a viable option.