Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) was reportedly caught in Miami Beach on Thursday evening as New York City was decimated by a record number of coronavirus cases.
National Review reported that, according to photographs obtained by the publication, Ocasio-Cortez was “seated outside Doraku Sushi and Izakaya in Miami Beach Thursday afternoon, raising a cocktail in one hand and checking her phone in another.”
“New York smashed its single-day COVID case record for the second straight day Thursday, reporting at least 74,207 new positives as the omicron surge stretches hospitals further,” NBC New York reported. “Meanwhile, hospitalizations continue to climb. ”
#WheresAOC? Mask free… 👀🐊 pic.twitter.com/SuDDLSScjl
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 31, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez’s decision to hangout in the red state of Florida amid the historic number of coronavirus cases in the city that she represents comes after she repeatedly attacked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for briefly going to Cancun, Mexico, earlier this year as the state of Texas dealt with a storm crisis.
In one exchange with Cruz on Twitter, AOC responded to something that Cruz wrote by tweeting: “Ted, this is pretty rich coming from someone who fled their own home (and responsibilities) during an environmental crisis to cross the border and seek refuge in Mexico.”
“Maybe Mexico shouldn’t let YOU in the next time you try to run away from your job to sip umbrella drinks in Cancún,” she continued.
In another tweet, AOC said that she cared that “it appears Texas was just a layover stop for him between Cancun and Orlando to drop a pack of water into someone’s trunk and abandon his constituents again as they get slammed with $16,000 electrical bills.”
AOC is often in the news for making absurd claims that run contrary to reality, like claiming that organized retail smash and grab jobs were not actually happening.
“A lot of these allegations of organized retail theft are not actually panning out,” Ocasio-Cortez claimed without evidence in an interview with The Washington Times. “I believe it’s a Walgreens in California [that] cited it, but the data didn’t back it up.”
In response, Walgreens told the Times that the problem “has evolved beyond shoplifting and petty theft to the sale of stolen and counterfeit goods online” and that “organized retail crime is one of the top challenges” that the company faces.
AOC’s comments were so out-of-touch with reality that even the Biden administration publicly pushed back on her comments.
“Well, we don’t agree,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. “And I think our actions and the work that we have had in working with the Justice Department, the FBI, and federal law enforcement show that we take — we’ve seen some of these extremely video — extremely disturbing videos showing retail thefts in both major retailers — as well as state and local leaders, like Governor Newsom, have identified this as a serious concern.”
This report has been updated to include additional information.