Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) posted a message on her Instagram to address rumors surrounding a high school military recruitment event.
“Politics is so crazy because people can just wake up and make up whatever they want to say about you,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She added, “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.”
Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, “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.”
So it appears @AOC was attacked by her own for allegedly having a “Military Recruitment Fair” at a local HS causing her to run to IG. The clarification on her congressional HS opportunity fair did nothing more than highlight her utter ignorance on this Nations Service Academies pic.twitter.com/YUW2jABQtl
— Rob O'Donnell (@odonnell_r) March 21, 2023
The lawmaker claimed she 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.”
She continued, “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.”
During another part of her post, Ocasio-Cortez sought to explain what a service academy is.
“Now among all these tables, there were a small amount that had to do with our U.S. service academies. Now, maybe you haven’t heard of what a service academy is, maybe you have,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She continued, “These are kind of like colleges, universities, military colleges, universities. Except, there is a requirement in my job… you cannot apply to these schools without a federal nomination from your member of Congress, your representative, your senator, the Vice President of the United States, or the President of the United States.”
Ocasio-Cortez argued, “We have a responsibility to inform people of that process and there were a couple of people there to talk about that.”
Having 2 Children who’ve attended/attend a Service Academy, one being accepted to all three military Academies, BTW both West Point & Annapolis are cities where service academies are located not actual Academies @AOC. You also don’t need a nomination to apply, just to be accepted pic.twitter.com/5aI8R9kAZA
— Rob O'Donnell (@odonnell_r) March 21, 2023
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) shared a poster for the event on Twitter last week.
“Join me and [Rep. AOC] for our Student Service Fair on March 20th, from 4-6:00 pm at The Bronx Renaissance High School,” Espaillat tweeted.
He added, “As summer fast approaches, learn more about all the valuable resources available to students through our district offices.”
— Adriano Espaillat (@RepEspaillat) March 15, 2023
Join me and @repaoc for our Student Service Fair on March 20th, from 4-6:00 pm at The Bronx Renaissance High School.
As summer fast approaches, learn more about all the valuable resources available to students through our district offices.
SIGN UPhttps://t.co/G2wuDV7baa pic.twitter.com/WwqcKQhlYN
In 2020, Ocasio-Cortez introduced amendments to a bill that would prohibit the military from using funds to keep a presence in U.S. schools or on streaming platforms, including Twitch, to recruit students.
