Donald Trump Jr. Trolls Ocasio-Cortez With Meme

Donald Trump Jr. mocked Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Thursday night with a meme that implied the newly-elected congresswoman’s democratic socialist views would lead to Americans eating dogs.

The meme is made up of two photos stitched together. The top image is of Ocasio-Cortez along with the text: “Why are you so afraid of a socialist economy?” The second picture, this time showing President Donald Trump, provides a blunt answer: “Because Americans want to walk their dogs, not eat them.”

The president’s eldest child shared the meme to his 1.5 million Instagram followers along with the caption, “It’s funny cuz it’s true!!!” His post also included several laughing-crying face emojis and American flag icons.

As of early Friday morning, the picture had more than 49,000 likes and roughly 1,600 comments. In an email to The Washington Post, Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, said they had no comment.

Ocasio-Cortez, who pulled off one of the biggest upsets during the primaries when she unseated 10-term incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., in June before winning last month’s midterm election, is a self-described democratic socialist. Though she has yet to officially take office, the 29-year-old Bronx native has already come under fire for her policy proposals, namely their anticipated costs.

As Vox reported in an August story, the cost of a democratic socialist agenda that touts a single-payer health care system, guaranteed jobs and free college “would require astonishingly high expenditures that would cause the federal deficit to skyrocket.”

Ocasio-Cortez has provided some ideas for how to foot this bill. In July, she told Trevor Noah during an appearance on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” that increases in corporate tax and taxes on the wealthy could be one option, HuffPost reported. She also argued on CNN in August that the “Medicare for All” plan could ultimately be cheaper than the country’s current healthcare system.

The meme’s suggestion is likely a reference to the reports of starving people in Venezuela having to eat dogs, cats and zoo animals due to the country’s spiraling economic crisis brought on by corruption and failed socialist policies. But, Ocasio-Cortez, as The Post’s Paul Waldman wrote in October, advocates for a version of European social democracy, not the Hugo Chavez-style economy in Caracas.

Trump Jr.’s post is the latest social media attack that Ocasio-Cortez has faced from prominent Republicans. Over the past several weeks alone, the young Democrat got into heated Twitter battles with former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Sen. Lindsey Grahamm, R-S.C., and Mike Huckabee.

On Instagram, the post garnered many positive comments, as one user wrote, “100000 likes!!! So true! Venezuela is a clear example of how that theory doesn’t work. People are starving!”

“This is hilarious!,” another commenter posted.

Others, however, were more critical, slamming the meme as “outright disgusting” and a “juvenile attack.”

Several people also drew attention to first lady Melania Trump’s “Be Best” anti-bullying initiative, which focuses on cyberbullying.

(c) 2018, The Washington Post · Allyson Chiu  

{Matzav.com}