There’s no real way to sugarcoat this, so here we go:
Is New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez willfully and maliciously duplicitous? Or is she just plain dumb and forgetful?
Because one of those two reasons would explain why the rabidly pro-union Ocasio-Cortez was spotted driving around in a Tesla electric vehicle — a car that both furthers the bottom line of her arch-nemesis Elon Musk and is decidedly not built by union workers.
When she appeared on Saturday’s “Face the Nation” on CBS News, Ocasio-Cortez was asked by host Margaret Brennan about this seemingly contradictory choice of vehicle that flies in the face of her big promise to support the ballyhooed autoworker’s strike.
You can watch the full interview below:
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After praising President Joe Biden’s handling of the United Auto Worker’s strike that has crippled America’s auto assembly lines, Brennan actually pressed Ocasio-Cortez about her car.
“You were quoted back in July saying you look forward to buying a union-made electric vehicle, but you currently have a non-union made Tesla,” Brennan said. “UAW already makes some electric vehicles. Why wasn’t that [the way you went]? Is it a problem with the quality? Is it a problem with the style? Is the market just not there?”
“Uh, no,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.
Are unions good for the American auto industry?
Yes: 33% (7 Votes)
No: 67% (14 Votes)
She then launched into the sort of word salad that would make the incumbent vice president blush:
“Our car was purchased during the pandemic when travel, before a vaccine had come out, so travel between New York and Washington, the safest way we had determined was an EV, but that was prior to some of the new models coming out on the market that had the range available, but we’re actually looking into trading in our car now.
“So, we’re looking into it, and hopefully we will soon.”
For the congresswoman, “soon” has a bit of a curious meeting.
Despite Brennan citing a July quote, Ocasio-Cortez had actually been making remarks about ditching her Tesla since at least May of last year.
So it’s been well over a calendar year since promising to ditch her car.
And while the thought of a Democrat lawmaker not coming remotely close to adhering to any sort of a timeline is hardly new, it’s also worth calling out that even back in May 2022, Ocasio-Cortez was parroting the same exact talking points.
“At the time, it was the only EV that could get me from New York to Washington on like one or one-and-a-half charges,” she told Bloomberg News then.
Familiarly, she added: “I would love to switch.”
So which is it congresswoman?
Are you full of bologna? Do you not actually care about the plight of auto workers as you gallivant around in your fanciful car?
Or are you the political equivalent of Dory — the goofy fish suffering from short-term memory loss — from the “Finding Nemo” movies?
This writer sadly thinks it’s more the latter, which means that Americans can fully expect Ocasio-Cortez to spew the exact same point about why she’s still driving a Tesla in another year.