"Fox & Friends" continues to raise hysteria over the "so far left" and "socialist" policies of one of Fox News' favorite punching bags: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
"The left keeps going further and further left," co-host Ainsley Earhardt prompted Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren on Wednesday after calling attention to a handful of the New York congresswoman's top policy priorities.
In response, Lahren declared, "There's a difference between being successful on Twitter and social media like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and being relatable on social media platforms, and actually being successful in real life."
"But listen — the American people — we don't want a handout. We want the government's hand off," Lahren continued. "And we want the ability to achieve the American dream in a safe and secure nation. And this crop of Democrats offer none of those things."
While, as a freshman member of Congress, it is true that Ocasio-Cortez's ability to pass legislation remains untested, Lahren also suggests she has lived a life lacking in any successes. To be clear, here are six things Ocasio-Cortez, who is currently only 29 years old, has already accomplished in "real life":
- had an asteroid named after her by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in honor of her work in an international science competition as a high school student
- graduated cum laude with degrees in economics and international relations from Boston University, ranked No. 42 on U.S. News & World Report's 2019 national university rankings
- interned for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), where she dealt with foreign affairs and immigration caseloads for families
- worked two jobs and 18-hour shifts in the service industry to help maintain her family's home after her dad passed away at just 48 years old
- worked as a community organizer supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 2016 presidential campaign
- unseated the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, who was a 10-term incumbent
- and became the youngest woman elected to the Congress in U.S. history.
Less than a month into her first term, Ocasio-Cortez has also been successful at injecting her Democratic socialist voice and values into the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Medicare for All, or single-payer healthcare; the Keynesian Green New Deal; and debt-free public college were among the topics that "Fox & Friends" Earhardt called out as ideas championed by Ocasio-Cortez which are also supported by current and potential candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.
Meanwhile, Lahren uses her platform on Fox Nation and her role as a contributor on its parent network to spread fear about the Latino community, which includes constituents of Ocasio-Cortez , suggesting in December that migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border were vectors of disease that would spread hepatitis and HIV/AIDS. "So what happens if we usher them on in to the United States? People in border states like mine better pull their heads out of the sand real quick," the Fox host warned at the time. "Do you want TB, HIV/AIDS, chicken pox or hepatitis in your communities at your children's schools? Because I have a feeling the warm and fuzzy spirit of compassion doesn't treat or prevent diseases like those."
And that was far from the first time Lahren found herself caught in the headlines for dishing out inaccurate and inflammatory political commentary. "You don’t just come into this country with low skills, low education, not understanding the language — and come into our country, because someone says it makes them feel nice. That’s not what this country is based on," she said last May while appearing in a segment on Jesse Waters' Fox News program "Watters’ World."
Lahren, for her part, does not view candidates who share Ocasio-Cortez's views as a threat to incumbent President Donald Trump in 2020, although she sees the construction of his campaign promise of a "big, beautiful" wall along the souther border as a determining factor to his reelection fate.
"I don't think they're a threat to Donald Trump unless he fails to build the wall," Lahren told Earhardt on Thursday. "And, then again, like I've warned before, we're in for a real treat in 2020 if this is the crop of Democrats that we have to deal with."
Watch the clip here.
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