“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” is a proverb that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has apparently taken to heart when it comes to the rich in the United States.
The New York congresswoman was caught lounging in a first-class seat on a JetBlue flight March 19 to a rally dubbed “Fighting Oligarchy” and headlined by millionaire Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
The New York congresswoman who has identified in the past as a Democratic socialist likely dropped more than $1,000 for the flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Las Vegas, Nevada. A first-class JetBlue seat on the same route, weekday and time later this month costs as much as $1,100, The New York Post reported Monday.
Ocasio-Cortez previously became famous on social media for her self-proclaimed advocacy for the poor even as she attended such pricey exclusive events as the Met Gala in 2021.
It seems fair to say that taking a first-class flight across the country is not the behavior people expect to see from a member of Congress who claims to be a “representative of an actual working-class movement.”
Indeed, the move caused at least one fellow passenger on the flight to cry foul.
“AOC is fighting the system one first-class mimosa at a time,” a fellow traveler on the flight remarked to the New York Post.
“Nothing says ‘Power to the people’ like ignoring voters looking to say hello and reclining in first class while tweeting about income inequality,” the passenger continued.
Fellow Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., reacted to the news by noting that she was “surprised [Ocasio-Cortez] didn’t take a private jet like most of her comrades.”
For that, Ocasio-Cortez would have to catch a ride with any number of Democrat billionaire donors, from George Soros to Reid Hoffman to Illinois Gov, JB Pritzker.
Indeed, the New York congresswoman’s preferred style of flying likely reflects the financial state of many of the voters of the Democratic Party, which has in recent years increasingly become the party of wealthy Americans. A near-supermajority of voters, 65%, with incomes of $500,000 or more identified with the party in 2020. That’s an almost complete inverse from where the parties were in 1993, when the typical Republican congressional district was 14% wealthier than the Democrat alternative.
The 35-year-old congresswoman trounced fellow New York Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a recent hypothetical 2028 primary matchup for his Senate seat. And regardless of the discrepancy between Sanders’ own net worth and his anti-rich rhetoric, the Vermont senator also holds an impressive popularity rating among Democrats.