Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is firing back at “rumors” from left-wing activists that she is hosting a high school military recruitment fair, claiming on Instagram that “large accounts” were making up lies about a recent event whose guests included military personnel from service academies.
Ocasio-Cortez co-hosted a “students service fair” with Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., Monday for high schoolers in the Bronx to “learn about the resources available to students” through the district office and connect them with service academies, according to a flyer for the event.
At the event were guests from the U.S. military, Marines, Naval Academy, Air Force and Coast Guard, prompting backlash toward the progressive representative who proposed a ban on certain forms of military recruitment in 2020.
“Politics is so crazy because people can just wake up and make up whatever they want to say about you,” Ocasio-Cortez said on her Instagram account Monday evening. “Today, someone made up a rumor that I, me, was hosting a military recruitment fair for high schoolers. Does that sound like something I would do? No… But Somebody started a rumor that that’s what was going on. Everyone just believed it and accepted it. And the problem is when large accounts start platforming this, then is starts spreading like a wildfire and results in demands to cancel this event or for me to not show up to it.”
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The congresswoman said that spreading false rumors is “not just a right wing thing” and those who made claims regarding the event should take down the posts.
“For doing this today, I was subject to a lot of really vile rhetoric and attacks all day today, because of a rumor. And I can’t stress how much this is not just a right wing thing,” the progressive representative said. “And then even worse, after some of these accounts started platforming and spreading this completely false claim, it circulated big. There was one account where twelve thousand people like it… It leads to real safety issues and I just think it’s an opportunity for all of us to pause and take a breath, because it’s not all it looks like sometimes.”
Ocasio-Cortez explained that when students are applying to military college universities, such as West Point, there is an application requirement for a federal nomination from a member of Congress, a senator or other federal elected official.
“We have a responsibility to inform people of that process and there were a couple of people there to talk about that,” Ocasio-Cortez said trying to set the record straight regarding the military guests involvement at the event. “And even that was such a small fraction of the tables and what was there.”
She went on to say that large accounts, “especially for activists and left leaning spaces, are going to get it wrong. And if they just pretend that they never get it wrong, how are they any different from other positions of power and how people operate when they get that.”
“If you’re trying to impact the decisions that are made, but you have lied in the past about the decision makers, then why should people believe anyone with a track history of sharing misinformation and not owning up to it after the fact?” Ocasio-Cortez added.
In 2020, Ocasio-Cortez introduced an amendment to a House Committee on Appropriations bill that would ban military recruitment on live-streaming platforms such as Twitch, after arguing that military recruitment efforts target kids and young adults.
“Children should not be targeted in general for many marketing purposes in addition to military service,” Ocasio-Cortez said on the House floor. Despite her efforts, the measure lacked the support needed to pass the amendment in the House.
Upon news of the event, the congresswoman was accused of hypocrisy for co-hosting an event that connected high schoolers with academies for military recruitment.
“Hey @AOC what’s up with this? This is frickin’ gross. You were sent to DC to fight against imperialism & fight for the poor & working class, NOT THE WAR MACHINE! What are you doing? Stop it,” one user, who identify in their bio as an eco-socialist, wrote alongside a photo of the event flier.