AOC's Debate Tweet Threw Major Shade At Chris Wallace
U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made waves during the first 2020 presidential debate when she subtly shaded Fox News anchor-turned-moderator Chris Wallace on Twitter.
In a tweet that will go down in political and social media history, Ocasio-Cortez suggested that "Someone call el chacal de la trompeta on Chris Wallace because this is very much an 'y fuera' situation." Shots fired! We repeat: Shots fired!
One can surmise that Ocasio-Cortez was referencing the Spanish-language version of The Gong Show, Gran Oportunidad. According to Forbes, the premise of the show is for contestants to showcase their "surprising talents and extraordinary abilities" to a panel of celebrity judges during a 90-second stint. There's one catch though — the contestants can also be immediately nixed from the show by a character aptly titled "The Eliminator." Hence the phrase "Y fuera" or in English, "And out!" Aye yi yi.
But that wasn't the first time there's been something shady connecting these two.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chris Wallace have sparred before
This is not the first time politician Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and journalist Chris Wallace have bumped heads.
As reported by Fox News, the two had a very public difference of opinion in April 2020. During an interview with Anand Giridharadas of Vice News, Ocasio-Cortez seemingly suggested that Americans should simply refuse to work in an effort to protest economic insecurity after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. "When we talk about this idea of reopening society, you know, only in America does the president — when the president tweets about liberation — does he mean go back to work. When we have this discussion about going back or reopening, I think a lot of people should just say 'no' — we're not going back to that," she said.
"Good luck with that," Wallace retorted during a radio appearance on the Brian Kilmeade Show. Wallace further explained that he felt Ocasio-Cortez's timing amidst the coronavirus crisis was poor. "You can argue about how early we should get back to work from a safety point of view," he said, but he took issue with the lawmaker "talking about an economic revolution ... when businesses are going bankrupt and now 26 million people have filed for unemployment in the last five weeks..."
Something tells us that this beef is just getting started. Meanwhile, AOC had plenty of other commentary during the September 2020 debate.
AOC called out President Trump during the debate
In addition to her criticism of Chris Wallace, AOC also called out President Donald Trump's failure to denounce white supremacist groups. As both Ocasio-Cortex and the New York Daily News both noted, Trump went so far as to name-check one of the most visible far-right groups, the Proud Boys, for the sake of pivoting focus.
As NY Daily reported, moderator Wallace asked Trump whether he would ask "white supremacists and right-wing militias" to "stand down." Rather than take Wallace's cue, Trump instead said, "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by" — a statement that the group interpreted as a call to action, per Politico. The president then re-directed focus from the designated hate group to a leftist movement made of various autonomous and loosely connected groups, quickly adding, "But I'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about Antifa and the left."
Following Trump's debate directive, Ocasio-Cortez was quick to tweet her response to Trump's remarks — namely, that the president's refusal to clearly call out racist groups was completely unsurprising.
"People have been warning about this for a long time," AOC wrote in her tweet. "They were ridiculed, called hyperbolic & radical not [because] they were wrong, but [because] others couldn't accept that."
AOC criticized President Trump's tax returns
Another major criticism congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared on social media about President Donald Trump was about something that happened before the first debate, but was nevertheless a major issue on the minds of viewers. Mere hours before the debate, the New York representative tweeted to point out the contrast between the response to her past proposals in light of Trump's tax returns, which were published by The New York Times on September 27, 2020.
"The nerve of people who ask 'how are you going to pay for it?' whenever we propose building advanced public education, healthcare, & climate infrastructure yet defend a system where Trump pays $750 in taxes and Amazon pays none is beyond me," tweeted Ocasio-Cortez. For many, the New York Times report confirmed long-held suspicions of Trump's precarious financial history, revealing "hundreds of millions of debt" and "vast write-offs."
As The Week noted, debate moderator Chris Wallace attempted to ply a confirmation of the $750 amount Trump paid in taxes in both 2016 and 2017, his first year in office. Trump refused to answer the question during the debate, and instead used a well-worn refrain in which he insisted he could not release his tax returns to the public due to an ongoing audit by the IRS.