(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran on the platform that she basically hated all things Trump. In fact, she wanted her constituents to send her to Washington so she could fight against President Donald Trump for them. Imagine their surprise to hear the Democrat darling now making Trump-like remarks about one particular group of people. You’ll love this.
When President Trump calls the media “fake news” for reporting false information, he is accused of attacking the free press and putting journalists’ lives in danger. Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has basically called Politico “fake news,” but for some reason, there have been no cries that she’s destroying the Constitution and putting reporters in jeopardy. Of course, Trump is Republican and Ocasio-Cortez is a Democrat, so the liberal media double-standard probably accounts for this selective outrage.
Left-leaning Politico ran a couple of pieces on Ocasio-Cortez that she didn’t like, so she pushed back with some tweets, just like Trump does:
Trump says “fake news” and “the enemy of the American people” while Ocasio-Cortez says “junk articles” and “birdcage lining.” Those are the same things or at least convey roughly the same sentiment.
“False information” is synonymous with “fake news,” so it’s fair to say Ocasio-Cortez is treating the press exactly as President Trump does.
When Grace Segers from CBS pointed out that Ocasio-Cortez’s complaints about the media were the same as Trump’s, she offered this distinction:
As you can see, according to Ocasio-Cortez, when Trump says “fake news,” he’s exploiting a confused public, but when she does the same, it’s a learning moment about journalistic standards. It’s weird how similar things can be so different based on a person’s political party affiliation, isn’t it?
This story comes with a twist, however. After Ocasio-Cortez accused Politico of “fake news,” they turned around and accused her of “fake news” as well. In a statement to The Wrap, Politico more or less said the Rep. Elect was full of crap, which may be the only “real news” about this whole thing.
“Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez does not specify in her tweet what she believes is incorrect with the piece, nor has she or anyone from her staff reached out to our team for
Politico actually took it easy on Ocasio-Cortez for calling them “fake news.” In October, Politico filed a lawsuit against President Trump for the same thing.
“President Donald J. Trump’s frequent threats and hostile acts directed toward journalists and the media are not only offensive and unbecoming of a democratic leader; they are also illegal. In the Trump era, nasty rhetoric, insults and even threats of violence have become an occupational hazard for political reporters and commentators,” wrote Politico’s Suzanne Nossel.
And, certainly, the liberal media’s reaction to Ocasio-Cortez’s “fake news” accusation has been nothing compared to the hysteria over Trump saying the same. NPR reports that earlier this year, over 300 newspapers denounced President Trump for attacking the free press in a coordinated editorial rebuttal.
“But insisting that truths you don’t like are ‘fake news’ is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists the ‘enemy of the people’ is dangerous, period,” read one of the editorials.
This case reinforces the liberal double-standard that things are only bad when Trump does them. He says “fake news” and suddenly democracy has been destroyed and the streets are littered with the bodies of dead journalists. Ocasio-Cortez says the same thing and somehow democracy is intact and all reporters are alive and well.
