So it’s the middle of November and I think a lot of folks are relaxing after some really great midterm election results. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and, even more importantly, so is Black Friday. This capitalist holiday couldn’t come faster for Republicans because wow, they actually can’t stop talking about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “fancy clothes.”

The most recent example comes from some guy named Eddie Scarry, which, okay I won’t make any jokes about that. Scarry tweeted a picture of Ocasio-Cortez from the back, which was apparently taken by a DC staffer. “That jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles,” writes Scarry, who has never heard of Nordstrom Rack apparently.

Most folks were not having any of this and quickly pulled up some receipts of Scarry being really freaking creepy on Twitter. Also, you should peep that reply ratio on his original tweet, talk about Scarry (I’m sorry.)

The context behind Scarry’s statement is Ocasio-Cortez’s extreme openness regarding her financial situation. In an interview with the New York Times, she talked about how she can’t work before her term starts, so she is financially in an awkward place because she can’t afford to move to DC before she starts drawing a government salary. In a follow-up tweet she noted that this is one of the many ways that the system isn’t designed for working class people to be elected.

I consulted with experts and just about 130 percent of Fox’s coverage since this New York Times interview has been about how Ocasio-Cortez is either not as poor as she says or that she is poor, but shouldn’t ask people for money — which she didn’t.

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1062743656271093760

This has been going on for months now, not just with her clothes, but with *checks notes* everything she does or says. After Ocasio-Cortez entered into the national spotlight for winning the Democratic Primary in her district, Fox News was losing their minds that, not only was a Democratic Socialist most likely going to be elected to Congress, but that she was loud and proud about her politics.

In September, founder of the right-wing organization Turning Point USA and “#1 Socialism Fan Boy” Charlie Kirk tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez was a fraud because she wore an expensive suit in a magazine photo shoot. This point was picked up in a segment on Fox and Friends, in which the hosts mocked Ocasio-Cortez for having “expensive taste.”

What Ocasio-Cortez (and everyone with an internet connection) pointed out is that for magazine photo shoots, you don’t get to keep the clothes. Typically magazines are given clothes from sponsors and the stylists will put them on the subject.

The fact that Republicans are still trying these embarrassing scare tactics against socialism, implying that Ocasio-Cortez is a lying rich girl, is probably a good example of what’s to come. When the mere concept of socialist policy like free college or universal healthcare crosses the minds of right-wing media organizations, they seem to try to fight with whatever they can find in their reach — which, evidently, hasn’t been much.

My favorite thing that’s coming out of this mess was during a Fox News segment about some of the new Congresswomen of color, including Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, and their policy goals. The graphic shows the faces of the four women, smiling, and lists things like “free college for all” and “free healthcare for all.” Very Scarry (last one, I promise) concepts, indeed. Ocasio-Cortez responded to the unintentionally hilarious Fox News graphic, “Oh no! They discovered our vast conspiracy to take care of children and save the planet 😂”.

So I think we should all help out our friends on the Right by sending them some Black Friday deals or the address of their local thrift shop. Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t need to be the stylish frugal one — people on both sides of the aisle can be a maxxinista.

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