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CORRECTION: ‘Morning Joe’ panelist rips Ocasio-Cortez’s Amazon response

Greg Nash

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story inaccurately attributed comments about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough. The comments came from a panelist on the show.

Updated: 8:45 p.m.

 

A panelist on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” ripped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday for cheering Amazon’s decision to cancel its plans for a second headquarters in New York City, stating it was “shocking” to them “how little she understands not just economics but even unemployment.”

The day before, Amazon announced it was pulling out of plans for Long Island City, located in Ocasio-Cortez’s 14th District, a move the freshman lawmaker said shows “everyday Americans still have the power to organize and … can have more say than the richest man in the world,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. 

{mosads}“What’s shocking to me is once again she shows how little she understands not just economics but even unemployment,” GOP strategist Susan Del Percio said on the show Friday. “She’s the one who said the reason unemployment is so low is because a lot of people have two jobs. She needs to learn basic things about what it is to be a representative.” 

“When you look at what happens in New York City and New York state, we’re losing people like crazy,” she added. “We are going to lose our influence in Washington during the next redistricting because we’ll lose one to two congressional seats. Now we’re telling business don’t come here.” 

“Just because she has a progressive agenda, which some people like, does not man she has the city’s best interest,” Del Percio concluded. “She showed me she only cares about herself and not about her colleagues … and not about the people she represents because those people would be getting jobs themselves.”

Co-host Joe Scarborough had slammed “right-wing commentators” last week for “obsessively reporting” on Ocasio-Cortez, saying progressives do not represent the will of the Democratic Party.

“Right-wing commentators continue obsessively reporting on @AOC and claiming she reflects the consensus of Democrats,” Scarborough wrote on Twitter on Feb. 8. 

“Nonsense. It is Nancy Pelosi’s party. Full Stop,” he added.

Amazon this week cited the need for “positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long term” in its announcement to pull out of the New York agreement. 

“While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City,” the company added. 

Officials had estimated the Amazon move to New York would generate $27 billion in tax revenue over 25 years while creating 25,000 to 40,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000. 

“We were subsidizing those jobs,” Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday. “The city was paying for those jobs.” 

Tags Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Amazon Jeff Bezos MSNBC Nancy Pelosi

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