Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has never been one to let conservative politicians spout misleading rumors and get away with it, which is exactly what happened when she called out Florida Sen. Marco Rubio over Twitter on Sunday. It all started after Rubio woke up, logged onto Twitter dot com, and declared, “Not every democrat is a socialist. But every socialist is a democrat.” Ok!
Ocasio-Cortez — a member of the Democratic Socialists of America — clarified a few things for the Florida senator. “Curious what you call GOP giving away billions in public funds to Wall St & fossil fuel companies?” she asked in response to Rubio’s claim. “Or what you call YOUR ability to go to Walter Reed hospital & receive socialized healthcare for free? Funny how it’s only 'socialism' when others get what y’all give yourselves.” The Congresswoman also quickly followed up with “(Also, the idea that socialists like Dems... lol).”
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Then, even non-Democrats chimed in to respond to Rubio's wildly confusing claim. “Marco Rubio is very confused,” Green Party presidential nominee Howie Hawkins tweeted. “The only socialists with a path to the White House are me and @AngelaNWalker on the @GreenPartyUS ecosocialist ticket.” CNN commentator Ana Navarro-Cárdenas — an avid conservative never-Trumper — also wrote, “Not every US Senator from Florida is an embarrassing disappointment. Oh, wait....”
This is, of course, not the first time Rubio has been vocal about his disdain for Democratic socialism — in fact, it’s arguably become one of his most tired talking points. Rubio was a speaker at a “Fighters against Socialism” event in Miami in October, and in February, he jumped on Twitter to share with his 4.2 million followers that “‘Socialism’ is incompatible with America’s founding principles because marxism is the belief that: ‘Persons of & by themselves have no value. An individual has a value only inasmuch as he is the representative of an economic category...outside of that, man has no value.’”
While Rubio is not a fan of socialism, he is one of meaningless press releases, as he shared one in June 2019 titled “Marco Rubio Blasts Democratic Socialism: It Will Never Be the Answer,” where he claimed that Democratic socialism was “incompatible with our American values” and “hasn’t worked anywhere in the world.” And then he shared another press release that September titled “ICYMI: Rubio: Socialism is Entirely Incompatible With America and It's Unique, Entrepreneurial Spirit.”
While Rubio's constant dragging of Democratic socialism might be working as a desperate play to curry favor with his right-wing base, it's unlikely that anyone who actually identifies as a Democratic socialist will change their minds for... Marco Rubio.