Joy Reid, the presenter of MSNBC, was taken aback when Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) disclosed the reasons why some of her most vulnerable supporters voted for President-elect Donald Trump.
AOC issued a summons to the individuals in her district who voted for her and also voted for Trump in the wake of Trump’s unexpectedly decisive and swift victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
AOC disclosed on Thursday’s episode of MSNBC’s The ReidOut that certain constituents who were impacted by the loss of SNAP benefits voted for Trump as a result of their frustration with individuals such as Elon Musk receiving tax exemptions.
“OK. AOC, what did they say?” Reid asked.
“I mean, there’s a lot of different things that we saw. I think there’s a lot of people — first of all, it’s important to note that Democrats oftentimes when we lose elections, we think that we lost people to Trump, and that is true in circumstances. But they don’t look enough at the fact that we also lost people to the couch.” Cortez said.
“We have two people that we’re running against. So a lot of people say, this is why I voted for you and Trump, and some people say, this is why I didn’t vote or didn’t vote top of the ticket.” she continued.
“Right, right. And we — I think we saw some of that happen as well. But when it comes to people who split their ticket, I think a lot of people cited several different things. One is there is universal frustration in this country — much of it I actually think justified — that is raging at a political establishment that centers corporate interests, billionaires and puts their needs ahead of the needs of working Americans.” Cortez said later in the conversation in response to a statement from Reid on ticker splitters.
“And we know that we can either channel this righteous rage because there are people whose SNAP was cut off, their child tax credits were cut off, but they’re seeing people like Elon Musk getting tax breaks and kissing up to Donald Trump in order to do so.” she added.
“But they vote for — then why vote for Elon Musk and Donald Trump?” Reid said.
“And I think — that, of course, is the question.” she continued.
“It makes no sense!” Reid concluded in exasperation.
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