Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Plans To Give Dem Lawmakers Twitter Lessons
President Donald Trump has a pretty strong Twitter game, but that could be threatened by a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), a freshman member of the House of Representatives who ousted an incumbent member of her own party in a primary election last year (going on to win the general election in November), is well-known for her own social media posts on Instagram and Twitter.
On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez, joined by fellow Democrat Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, plans to host other Democratic lawmakers in a workshop of sorts, teaching them how to use social media to their advantage.
Their event will “discuss how they [can] use Twitter as an effective and authentic messaging tool to connect with their constituents,” according to reporting from CNN.
If anyone can teach their colleagues how to be an effective communicator online, it’s probably Ocasio-Cortez, who is a well-known user on social media — and one with demonstrated success. Ocasio-Cortez has 20 percent more followers than does Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California).
Not one to back down from a fight, Ocasio-Cortez frequently engages with individuals, including conservative pundits, who challenge her views online. Just this week, for example, she and former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, debated back-and-forth about raising the highest marginal tax rate to 70 percent.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Scott Walker duke it out on Twitter over marginal tax rates https://t.co/GF0aHL73Rx pic.twitter.com/2uQT2h0vtW
— FOX6 News (@fox6now) January 16, 2019
Walker tweeted out that he was explaining to fifth grade students that the tax proposal by Ocasio-Cortez could be compared to getting a $10 payment for chores one of those students did for their grandmother, only to have $7 taken away by their parents.
“The students said: “That’s not fair!” Even 5th graders get it,” Walker wrote, according to reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Ocasio-Cortez responded in kind with a tweet of her own.
“Explaining marginal taxes to a far-right former Governor: Imagine if you did chores for abuela & she gave you $10. When you got home, you got to keep it, because it’s only $10. Then we taxed the billionaire in town because he’s making tons of money underpaying the townspeople.”
The result of the debate itself is unknown — how many minds were changed and who is right is a subjective opinion.
Yet social media shares seem to indicate that Ocasio-Cortez was more successful than Walker in their mini-argument, at least on metrics involving how many people saw their respective comments. The New York congresswoman’s tweet was retweeted more than 41,000 times as of this writing, while the former governor’s tweet got just 5,528 retweets.
