Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was viciously exposed on Thursday, after it was revealed that the New York Democrat spent $50,000 on trips to Puerto Rico despite condemning gentrification on the island.
Gentrification is the process by which wealthy individuals move into lower-income areas, leading to skyrocketing property values and the establishment of new businesses, which in turn drive out low-income residents.
Despite decrying such a process, Ocasio-Cortez had no problem traveling to the island and spending a considerable sum of money, confirmed in recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
Over the summer, she spent nearly $17,000 on a venue where Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny was performing, as the Daily Mail reported.
In September, she spent close to $10,000 at San Juan’s Hotel Palacio Provincial.
As she spent this whopping sum of cash, the New York congresswoman lambasted billionaires for influencing Puerto Rico.
“Puerto Rico is an island for working people,” she said on Facebook in July. “We won’t be pushed out just so vulture capitalists can cash in.”
On Aug. 25, in addition to her previous venue rental for Bad Bunny’s concert, she also spent nearly $7,000 at the same Coliseo de Puerto Rico venue.
During her time on the island, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign spent $8,561 on food at Cocina Abierta.
Amid backlash over her previous comments and actions, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager said the New York Democrat is proud of her “investment.”
“She is deeply proud of her investment in grassroots organizing and will continue to be active in advocating for both people on the island and the millions of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora,” Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben told Fox News.
Such a revelation comes after Ocasio-Cortez made headlines in 2021 after wearing a white dress with red letters that stated “Tax the Rich.”
In Congress, she has been an outspoken critic of the wealthy class in America. She has proposed vastly increasing taxes on billionaires as a form of equity for lower-income Americans.
Conservatives believed that Ocasio-Cortez’s latest actions and spending in Puerto Rico don’t align with her “Tax the Rich” message.
“‘UNREAL “TAX & EAT THE RICH’ Unless it’s me AOC the Soros puppet spending campaign cash to see Bad Bunny another globalist op. She dropped almost $5Ok on hotels and meals in Puerto Rico in the third quarter of this year as well as renting a San Juan venue where she was dancing with Bad Bunny,” Johnny St. Pete wrote on X.
“Of course she splurged! She wanted to spout the ‘no kings’ nonsense like the other Dems but out of the other side of her mouth, she wants to go party like a queen. Of course,” Allie Jade said.
Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) were seen at a recent “No Kings” protest in Washington, D.C., where protesters speak out against the Trump administration, claiming that President Donald Trump is behaving like a “king.”
