For those who missed it, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reminded her constituents in November of how out of her depth she is by referring to her “inaguration” on Jan. 3. Since that time, she has suffered near-daily lapses of foot-in-mouth disease, public attention to which evidently got under her skin, prompting a snide tone in her attempts to defend herself from her detractors. When someone of this intellectual persuasion goes from being clueless to condescending, her remarks rise to the level of an unfunny joke.
This unflattering trait was on display again in a tweet she posted on Dec. 7, but this time she didn’t stop at trading barbs. She threatened her interlocutor, Donald Trump, Jr., with the threat of subpoena, which many are insisting is an ethics violation.
The tweet came in reaction to a meme about socialism the president’s son posted on Instagram:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Here is Ocasio-Cortez’s rejoinder:
I have noticed that Junior here has a habit of posting nonsense about me whenever the Mueller investigation heats up.
Please, keep it coming Jr – it’s definitely a “very, very large brain” idea to troll a member of a body that will have subpoena power in a month.
Have fun! https://t.co/oQ6MsdJYCk
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) December 7, 2018
She tried to walk back the original message several hours later, but the damage was done:
For the GOP crying that this is a “threat” – I don’t have power to subpoena anybody.
Congress as a body, GOP included, has the power. No indiv. member can issue a subpoena unless they are a Chair (which, as a freshman, I can assure you I will not be). Also must be under purview.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) December 7, 2018
The Federalist’s Sean Davis tweeted out:
It’s worth noting that the official House Ethics Manual explicitly prohibits the kind of threat that @Ocasio2018 just issued against @DonaldJTrumpJr for his refusal to support her political agenda. https://t.co/rJ83EeZXGY
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) December 7, 2018
Indeed it does. The specific language is under the heading “Prohibition Against Linking Official Actions to Partisan or Political Considerations” and reads, “Members and staff are … prohibited from threatening punitive action.”
Ryan Saavedra of the Daily Wire notes that the president’s son is fully expecting that an ethics complaint will be filed.
