Another day, another opportunity to school Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The self-proclaimed Democratic socialist joined the growing choir of dissent against Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, who indicated earlier this week that he was mulling over a third-party run in the 2020 presidential election.
As Democrats have gone into a meltdown over the possibility, Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday demanded to know why billionaires like the coffee chain’s former CEO don’t have to “work their way up” before running for president.
The freshman lawmaker appeared to be responding to a Daily Beast tweet from Tuesday reporting on an interview Schultz gave to CNBC Monday saying he could not run as a Democrat for president because he did not like Ocasio-Cortez’s 70-percent marginal tax rate idea.
“I respect the Democratic Party. I no longer feel affiliated because I don’t know their views represent the majority of Americans. I don’t think we want a 70 percent income tax in America,” he said.
The 29-year-old New York congresswoman tweeted her comments on Wednesday.
Why don’t people ever tell billionaires who want to run for President that they need to “work their way up” or that “maybe they should start with city council first”? https://t.co/3d8Nenrvl5
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 30, 2019
Her remarks drew a universal face-palm on Twitter.
Well, Schultz was the first in his family to go to college. His father was a truck driver. He lived in public housing as a child.
After college, he started as a Xerox salesman…
Need I go on, or have I embarrassed the always-ignorant but doesn’t care about it AOC enough? https://t.co/A8DgBNCVa6
— Nathan, son of Robert (@NathanWurtzel) January 30, 2019
The 65-year-old, with a net worth of $3.4 billion according to Forbes, stepped in as CEO of Starbucks in 1987, stepping down in June 2018 after expanding the Seattle, Washington-based company from 11 stores to more than 28,000 worldwide.
Schultz, the former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics, grew up in a Brooklyn housing project and was the first in his family to go to college, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northern Michigan University where he attended on a football scholarship.
“I came from the projects and took advantage of the promise of the country. I am living proof of the American Dream,” Schultz told CNBC.
Schultz worked for three years with Xerox Corporation before joining Starbucks in 1982 as director of operations and marketing, when the coffee chain only had four Starbucks stores.
Ocasio-Cortez found some who agreed with her view, claiming there are plenty of voices telling billionaires like Schultz to stay in their own lane.
We are!
— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) January 30, 2019
They do tell billionaires that. They tell billionaires that a lot. https://t.co/BlSfrb3DwT
— Learning to code (@jtLOL) January 30, 2019
But plenty of Twitter users called out Ocasio-Cortez and her clueless comments.
Seems like an odd criticism from someone whose first elective office is the US Congress. https://t.co/DfaFZAMcx5
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) January 30, 2019
Cause they’ve accomplished way more in life than being a bartender in the Bronx
— derek schwartz (@derek_mafs) January 30, 2019
Cause they’ve accomplished way more in life than being a bartender in the Bronx
— derek schwartz (@derek_mafs) January 30, 2019
Schultz was raised in a housing project in NYC. He literally started with nothing and built a business from the ground up.
— Politico George (@PoliticoGeorge) January 30, 2019
Building a $83 billion global company from basically nothing is … something? https://t.co/s4VmeBNt86
— Steve Goldstein (@MKTWgoldstein) January 30, 2019
For many Twitter users, it was just another day with Ocasio-Cortez.
is someone keeping track of all the things this nitwit gets wrong?
— falfans? (@falfans) January 30, 2019
Nobody has that much time. There are only 24 hours in a day.
— Samantha Chang (@samantha_chang) January 30, 2019
@AOC is just about as ignorant as they come. But she is entertaining
— Steven Rusk (@Steven_Rusk) January 30, 2019
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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