Washington Post columnist Philip Rucker takes Donald Trump to task for a sarcastic tweet the president posted on Feb. 9, two days after the Green New Deal was unveiled, that reads:
I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal. It would be great for the so-called ‘Carbon Footprint’ to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military — even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!
Rucker’s beef with Trump is not his sarcastic tone but what he perceives to be a lie:
Trump description of the Green New Deal is false. No one has proposed eliminating cars or plane rights or cows. Here’s a smart explainer by @rizzoTK of what is — and isn’t — in the policy https://t.co/rJDmbvPLtU
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 12, 2019
“No one has proposed” these things? Is Rucker being disingenuous here or is he truly that naïve? The original FAQ posted to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s website on Feb, 7 and deleted the following day did indeed mention eliminating cow farts and phasing out airline travel in favor of nationwide high-speed rail service. The document mentioned several other absurdities, many of which still remain. Among these is “guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage … to all people of the United States.” To appreciate how utterly nonsensical this goal is, Rucker need only ask himself when in the history of our nation unemployment was at 0%.
But to address the larger question, where does Rucker think these preposterous notions came from if not from AOC and her staff?
As an added irony, several right-wing commentators have noted that Rucker’s paper was one of the news outlets that received a copy of the FAQ.
It's an especially interesting lie coming from the Washington Post, which was sent a copy of the memory-holed FAQ by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. They were early recipients of the document that called for eliminating cars, planes, and cows. https://t.co/fyChwlrjjh
— John Hayward (@Doc_0) February 12, 2019
