Summary

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denied claims that she is secretly wealthy, stating she is worth less than $500,000 and doesn’t trade stocks or take corporate money.

Her financial disclosures show modest savings and student debt.

Some conservatives on X, despite opposing her politics, praised her perceived integrity.

Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    I think regardless of whether you are Republican or a Democrat, AOC is probably the closest to what a representative should be. Now whether you agree with her or not is a different discussion entirely, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. She’s just the only one that actually seems to give a shit about who she represents. Whereas both for Republicans and Democrats the vast majority of our “representation” are crotchety and corrupt old people that don’t give a shit anymore.

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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      16 days ago

      She’s just the only one that actually seems to give a shit about who she represents. Whereas both for Republicans and Democrats the vast majority of our “representation”

      While I agree with almost everything you said, there’s really no good reason to make a statement like that and leave Bernie in with the “vast majority” group. 🙂

      The man has walked the walk for a very long time. (Yes he’s too old to run for office now, but he deserves his due!)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders#Political_activism

        • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
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          16 days ago

          All good, I wasn’t throwing shade on you just wanting to put in a word for the Bern. 🙂

      • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Most Americans want progressive policies, they’re just convinced from Cold War propaganda that progressivism/socialism is always the opposite of good.

        Bernie stopped running for president after the DNC told him to. He’s proven he doesn’t have what it takes to stand for his principles in a presidential run.

        I loved Bernie, even donated to him twice, but he’s a coward and only does lip service these days.

        • moon@lemmy.ml
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          16 days ago

          Bernie was ratfucked out of the nomination, no doubt. What happened in West Virginia, for example, where he won all counties and they lied about it, was insane.

          But… you cannot blame him or call him a coward for doing the right thing. At some point he saw the writing was on the wall. They were coronating Hillary no matter what. The next president would either be Hillary or Trump. Bernie put country before himself and stood aside. He didn’t make Trump’s path to victory any easier, and actively did his best to prevent a dangerous man from rising to power. None of that makes him a coward, it makes him a leader. A mensch.

          • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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            16 days ago

            Him running as a real leftest canidate after they tried to suppress him would have been the right thing, and him not choosing that path set us down the path we’re on today.

            There were a lot of Bernie voters who refused to vote for Hillary after that. The DNC lost the progressive vote for their actions in 2016.

            • moon@lemmy.ml
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              16 days ago

              You mean him running as a third party candidate? That’s a guaranteed loss under the current electoral system. He would’ve siphoned votes from both sides, but more from Hillary and delivered Trump an electoral college and popular vote victory. The left would’ve been demonised even more than they already were and AOC/The Squad would never have been elected to congress in 2018. Under First Past the Post, the only option for a populist progressive candidate is to do what Trump did. Take the party over from inside out. Going third party is just a fantasy.

              • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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                16 days ago

                Yeah you’re right, he made the right choice bending the knee to the Neoliberals because then the Neoliberals wouldn’t have been able to beat Trump.

                Because Hillary beat Trump after the Neoliberals suppressed the Progressives in 2016, right? I forgot, can you remind me who won?

                • moon@lemmy.ml
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                  16 days ago

                  There was 0% chance a third party candidate was winning in 2016, Bernie or not. There was about a 50% chance of Hillary winning.

                  Also, viewing this as ‘bending the knee’ is so juvenile. Bernie knows who he is and has advocated for progressive values for longer than most of us have been alive. He made a calculated decision to do what had the highest chance of defeating Trump. It’s not his fault that Hillary and the Democratic machine are completely inept

  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    I think if we don’t start WW3 and nuke the planet she’s gonna be the first woman president in the US

    • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      The DNC would murder her if she broke through their primary defenses and got close enough.

      They’re fine with losing, the pendulum is part of the grift, what they aren’t fine with is losing their half of that bipartisan oligarch gravy train. Our capitalists don’t bribe both parties to have those parties stand against economic metastasis at all human cost.

      We can have affirmation ribbons and be sucked dry by the oligarchs, or we can have scapegoating and be sucked dry by the oligarchs, that is the extent of our “freedom.” Reagan and Kemp saw to that by getting their former opposition on the take.

      • FKA_Demosthenes@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Now would be a great time to just put the democratic party out of its misery. Looking around the party, we can be comforted that at least it will go peacefully, in its sleep. Let’s at least see if we can get a fresh new party out of all this shit.

      • bayesianbandit@lemm.ee
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        16 days ago

        Serious talk. When are people going to start calling them DINOs. Democrats In Name Only from the Jurassic period.

        You think Trump took over the RNC because the old guard liked him?? No he built on the backs of the tea party.

        Bernie and the squad were the lefts tea party. What they need now is a charismatic leader to build on it and kick the DINOs out by force.

        The DNC is not that powerful. We outnumber them. Stop forgetting we outnumber them.

        • NoEsReal@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          I think this needs to be the strategy for sure. The progressives on the left need to start looking for truly progressive candidates to challenge each established Dem that is up for grabs in the 2026 primaries. Our real fight for democracy is no longer in the general election, it’s in the primaries. If we can’t change the Democratic Party then our only choices are a quick or a slow death

        • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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          16 days ago

          Good thing I don’t have that.

          If I did, I’d help protect the system when the molitovs start flying at it like a good house slave, I hope to assist when it isn’t just me, as that would just be suicide by cop.

          This isn’t class war, this is 50 years of class occupation and counting. Peaceful positive change has been made impossible here on multiple levels by the owners. I put my hope in the other thing, as that’s the only rational place left to put it.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I hope so, but she’s going to have to get through at least another four years, probably more, of being ratted and feathered by Republicans, and somehow still look clean

      I still contend that was the real problem with Hillary Clinton. Not that she was a poor candidate or hade some questionable decisions but that Repugnants spent years throwing shit at her so she looked like a mess. She was at least as good as a candidate as anyone else and many of the objections were manufactured

      • NoEsReal@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        I honestly think the problem with Hillary had less to do with her as a person and more with the fact that it felt like she was being forced on folks. I am not as educated on all the shenanigans the DNC pulled to get her to be the nominee over Bernie, but I know that for a lot of folks it felt like the DNC just did what they obviously keep doing and gave the job to the person they deemed “deserved it” for their own internal bs reasons, while ignoring the constituents they claim to represent. Her nomination felt like a precursor to Harris being nominated without a primary. I think that’s also where a lot of disillusionment comes from on the left, the dem party just doesn’t seem to have any desire to even pretend that they care about their constituents

        • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          Hillary has been groomed since her early thirties to be the DNC’s precious darling. Living in mansions, waited on by servants.

          AOC has been working real jobs trying to stay alive like most Americans have to.

      • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        The difference is that AOC is doing what politicians are supposed to do and establishing an identity for herself that would allow her to connect with voters. Clinton, on the other hand, presented herself as a blank slate and then whined when her enemies filled that slate in.

        Clinton had a problem with her public image for years before 2016 and resolutely refused to do anything about it, instead just blaming others at every turn. That attitude shows that she would have been a shitty President. Better than Trump, of course (there are few people who wouldn’t be) but still shitty by any objective measure.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          All true but I thought she would have been an effective president, due to focussing on organization, negotiations, influence, and that she was generally for the same platform as bill, so I’d generally agree with it (but with obvious caveats). She would have gotten things done, but in a democratic way instead of a fascist way, and those things would align with the generic Democrat platform

    • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      Unless the republicans field a multiple rapist convict again. Then it’s a tossup and a guaranteed L, if there’s a war somewhere the genocide people can get behind.

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Ladies and gentlemen, this is the internet manifest:

    1- blame her for having millions due to kickbacks

    2- when she proves that her net worth is less than 500K make fun of her for having too little money

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      There’s many things that expose the Right Wing Grift.

      When AOC was first elected they mocked her for being a Bartender who “rose above her station”

      What more proof do you need that the American Dream is bullshit

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        When it’s a teacher - she reminds me of that mean lady who failed me

        When it’s a doctor - they’re pushing a vaxxer agenda

        When it’s an engineer - he’ll be a bad negotiator

        When it’s a scientist - we’ve gotta do what? No thanks.

        When it’s a lawyer - ah perfect they make everything better

    • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      I mean if you take the internet as a monolith, you’ll find contradictions every where. Some people will hate A because of B, some people will hate A because of C, but either way A is getting hate for both B and C.

      So either there are millions of people online with different opinions but the crowd looks the same, or there is one very, very busy troll who is running all the accounts.

      ~help I’m so tired they won’t give me a break to pee~

      • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        One busy troll? What makes you think it is just one person? Maybe if it was the 1990’s you might have had a single troll per social platform but we are way past that point. A real troll would even be considered high quality with so many bot accounts nowadays.

    • ZK686@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Because it’s ONE SIDED around here, just like Reddit… if a Republican said this EXACT same thing, they’d be crucified.

  • Xanza@lemm.ee
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    15 days ago

    Median property value in DC is $705,000.

    She’s likely living paycheck to paycheck as a sitting member of Congress. I like it.

  • Veedem@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    Man, if you don’t agree with her views, fine whatever. But for people to hate her so much to claim she’s corrupt when she’s clearly not is just silly.

    We live in a stupid timeline. More politicians should be like her. We’d all be better off, regardless of which party they were from.

    • index@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      Man, if you don’t agree with her views, fine whatever. But for people to hate her so much to claim she’s corrupt when she’s clearly not is just silly.

      Anyone who use meta and x in 2025 is full of shit. Anyone who side with the red and blue party after all they have done is scum.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      It’s pretty absurd that y’all qaeda bitch about all the money that (insert lib politician) makes while throwing money or votes at billionaires who then turn around and accuse lib politicians like AOC or Sanders of being rich.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      AOC is a prodigious fundraiser with a significant national following. She might only have a half-million in the bank, but her name and her reputation are worth orders of magnitude more.

      Conservatives have a hard time believing someone like that isn’t getting rich quick on $AOCCoin or LeftyBear merch offerings.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        Conservatives have a hard time believing someone like that isn’t getting rich quick on $AOCCoin or LeftyBear merch offerings.

        Being dishonest you have a bigger selection of instruments to gain power. So politicians are more likely to be dishonest than the average person. And then a dishonest person would use the opportunity.

        Anyway, cool for AOC to be honest, but unfortunately her views (specifically support of MMT) are a certain way to nuke the economy of the USA.

        If we detach ourselves from the emotional part (suicides, hunger deaths), it may even be liberating, if USD as a currency takes a 10000x inflation in a year or so, while big businesses reliant on American system of connections grown by decades of stability die. US main capital is still human capital, competent people and their knowledge. No hyperinflation will kill that, if recovery is quick enough.

        Except that’s not the way people like AOC promise.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          15 days ago

          Anyway, cool for AOC to be honest, but unfortunately her views (specifically support of MMT) are a certain way to nuke the economy of the USA.

          The US economy gets nuked every 8-12 years thanks to private equity and boom-bust capital trends. MMT just moves the ball out of the hands of a cartel of hedge funds and into the hands of the US Treasury. I’ll happily agree that its not sufficient to solving the problem of malinvestment and industrial waste. But that’s precisely because its an extension of Keynesian-cum-Friedmanite monetary theory of economics. At some point, you have to take account of real assets, not just float around fictitious capital.

          if USD as a currency takes a 10000x inflation in a year

          You don’t get inflation like that under Eisenhower/Carter era tax laws. MMT, in practice, is still predicated on some degree of currency recapture. You’re just replacing credit elasticity through private lenders with spending elasticity through public spenders. “Here’s a $500k loan, build a house and pay me back at 6% APY” isn’t meaningfully different than “Here’s a $500k grant, built a house and your builders are going to pay me back 6% VAT”.

          Except that’s not the way people like AOC promise.

          AOC promises a large public investment in value-adding infrastructure. She’s just proposing direct payment rather than tax-incentivized private investment.

          • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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            15 days ago

            She’s just proposing direct payment actually investing in Americans rather than tax-incentivized private investment taking bribes to give all the public coffers to corpo goons.

            ftfy

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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            15 days ago

            The US economy gets nuked every 8-12 years

            Reminds me of that Hashek quote about “sir, you’ve taken the pollen of my innocence” from a girl whose shoulder a boy touched.

            Anyway, maybe you’re right.

        • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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          14 days ago

          The economy is getting nuked right now. The tariff dump and pump is just the beginning.

          Trump coin is already a thing, and his minions now run the SEC. By the time Trump leaves office, the monetary theory we’re operating under won’t even be in President AOC’s hands anymore. The full faith and credit of the US government will be gone.

  • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    There is one group of people who both share the ire of most people and deserve it: The ultra rich.

    I’ve had rednecks tell me they disagreed with Bernie on a lot but they liked how he hated billionaires. Ben Shapiro’s gaggle of yes-men gave him grief for criticizing Luigi.

    If votes count for anything anymore a smart, effective political party would be able to capitalize on this universal hatred.

    Sadly, we have the Democrats.

    • milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee
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      15 days ago

      I mean, that’s a large part of Trump’s original appeal, right? So many people on both sides agree there’s rampant corruption in the government and politicians and billionaires getting too rich off it - and Trump promised an answer. And why his current wreckage of government still has many conservatives approving: they believe he is answering, kind of.

      Now, if you could get Sanders and AOC to start a new party…

      • AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        And why his current wreckage of government still has many conservatives approving: they believe he is answering, kind of.

        Now, if only we can get them to see that he’s got people in his orbit at billionaire techbros who think they’re all going to be John Galt, and that the “capitalist utopia” he builds in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” is what they’re trying to build and it won’t be good for them. They think they’re all going to live in their own Galt’s Gulch when it’s going to be more like Andrew Ryan’s Rapture.

  • fuck_u_spez_in_particular@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Accusations of political corruption have surged online, partly fueled by Elon Musk.

    Lol, says the guy who’s currently at the top of corrupting world-politics…

  • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    Can we all please notice how under capitalism, you can refer to people being ‘worth’ a dollar amount? Money is something you have, it says nothing about who you are. I’m fine with having an amount of wealth, but your worth is not measured in dollars, that’s fucked

    • NoEsReal@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I get what you’re saying. But the term is generally used to clarify that the amount quoted reflects the person’s assets and their value, and not just their liquid cash. Which a lot of people in this thread seem to not understand. I agree we should probably use a different term for that, but for now it works as easy short hand for “this is is how much this person owns in assets and liquid cash combined.”

      I might be wrong on this, but I think the term also includes income into the account, like how much someone brings in per year. And it might also subtract debt, though I’m not sure of either of those.

      • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        I agree we should probably use a different term for that,

        That’s literally all I said. I know what it means

  • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    They’re so concerned about profittering they support a guy that was giving millions directly from China, took millions in goverment funds by making secret service stay in his hotels and charging them 1000x the rate of any other guest. This guy’s will pay their life down for the biggest kleptocrat in US history, but yeah AOC needs to be monitored.

  • thesohoriots@lemmy.world
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    16 days ago

    I’m betting this is less of a “look at her integrity” and more of a “why would a woman have money” thing