FACT CHECK: Did The State Of The Union Have Two Intermissions?

A post shared on social media purported that the White House announced there would be two intermissions during The State of the Union Address. White House announces there will be 2 “intermissions” during tonight’s State of the Union — Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) March 7, 2024 Verdict: False The claim was meant as satire. Fact Check: President […]

AOC sells merchandise for a profit, gets called out for 'using capitalism to push socialism.' She claims it's not capitalism.



Far-left Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a plan to promote her socialist message and fund her campaign: Get people to buy and don merchandise touting her and her agenda.

But no one should dare call it "capitalism."

Reuters reported Monday that the socialism-touting lawmaker is now "investing heavily in her online store," where she's hawking merchandise capitalizing on her "AOC" brand and some of her favorite slogans.

Get your AOC gear! It's totally NOT capitalism. Only $27.https://t.co/Yh3MrNQ5Lx https://t.co/sda9kKcaNb

— Chris Field (@ChrisMField) 1626811113.0

More non-capitalism here. A mere $27.https://t.co/YV5uS1mOKI https://t.co/mmgCBG5qBe

— Chris Field (@ChrisMField) 1626811115.0

Wow. That's some amazing "not capitalism" capitalism going on there. (Fire sale: $27)https://t.co/A1dmT93t0b https://t.co/3OKfT4Z4J5

— Chris Field (@ChrisMField) 1626811117.0

According to the news agency, the lawmaker's campaign paid more than $1.4 million to Financial Innovations, which runs and supplies AOC's online store, in the first six months of 2021 — nearly twice what she paid the firm over the last two years combined. And it's more than many congressional members spent on their entire re-election efforts over the same six-month period.

The left-wing New Yorker is using her star power to likely rake in a lot of cash through her store. Andrew Frawley, who ran the merchandise portion of Andrew Yang's failed 2020 presidential campaign, told Reuters that the Ocasio-Cortez campaign could be making a 50% profit or more on much of its sales.

But when Sean Spicer, former President Donald Trump's onetime press secretary, dared to point out that AOC was benefiting from the capitalist system she loves to decry, the leftist congresswoman was not pleased — and attempted to argue that she was not engaging in capitalism.

In tweet linking to the Reuters report, Spicer wrote, "using capitalism to push socialism."

using capitalism to push socialism Branding the U.S. left: @AOC makes a push into political merchandisehttps://t.co/ZgyI18ksHq

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) 1626697184.0

AOC responded to Spicer's tweet by trying to claim that spending money to buy merchandise and then capitalizing on her fans' love of her personal brand by re-selling said merchandise at a higher price (aka profit) is not actually capitalism.

"Not sure if you know this Sean, but transactions aren't capitalism," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "Capitalism is a system that prioritizes profit at any & all human/enviro cost."

"But fwiw our shop is unionized, doesn't operate for profit,& funds projects like free tutoring, food programs,& local organizing," she added.

Not sure if you know this Sean, but transactions aren’t capitalism.Capitalism is a system that prioritizes profit… https://t.co/jAika1i7vD

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) 1626739024.0

HotAir's Ed Morrissey offered a quick tutorial for the lawmaker, who graduated cum laude from Boston University with a degree in economics:

Is this capitalism? Let us consider. Ocasio-Cortez had to invest some money — capital, if you will — into this venture to get it started, right? She made a free-will choice to risk some capital into a venture that produces goods, merchandising that she hopes will fetch a price in the market that will at least cover the manufacturing costs and produce enough over that baseline to fund her political campaigns. That amount over the baseline of overhead is profit in its basic economic sense, no matter what use Ocasio-Cortez makes of it.

In fact, the entire purpose of merchandizing is to capitalize on a popular concept, or in other words, to draw out its value in cash. That's true whether the merchandise is Star Wars figurines, Brady Bunch lunchboxes, Barack Obama Si se puede T-shirts, or AOC's products. AOC is monetizing her fame by literally selling it.

AOC has yet so explain how, exactly, what she is doing is not capitalism.

Nancy Pelosi botches attempt to honor Willie Mays by posting photo of wrong black baseball legend



Nancy Pelosi struck out in an attempt to wish baseball legend Willie Mays a happy birthday. The Democratic House Speaker from California swung and missed on the tribute when she posted a photo of the wrong black baseball icon.

Pelosi's social media team was caught napping while attempting to wish a happy 90th birthday to all-time great Willie Mays. Instead of posting a photo of Mays, an image of Willie McCovey was shared. McCovey, a baseball superstar in his own right, sadly passed away in 2018 at the age of 80.

"Happy 90th Birthday to an all-American icon, Willie Mays," Pelosi tweeted on Thursday. "A trailblazing, record-breaking baseball player, civil rights leader, and champion for youth sports and well-being, Willie Mays is a civic legend and national treasure."

Madam Speaker, that’s not Willie Mays cc @SpeakerPelosi https://t.co/q8PUzkChiR

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) 1620491181.0

Pelosi, who has represented the city of San Francisco for decades, whiffed on the bush league birthday tidings because there was a photo of McCovey instead of the Say Hey Kid. Pelosi's social media team didn't catch the error, but keen-eyed baseball fans noticed the faux pas and cried foul. With Pelosi's social media team caught in a pickle, they quickly tried to clean up the mistake by posting another photo, this time of Willie Mays along with Pelosi.

Pelosi's office issued a statement on the mix-up of San Francisco Giants greats.

"A staffer inadvertently selected the wrong photo for the tweet," the statement read. "The photo we wanted to use was of the Speaker and Willie Mays at Willie McCovey's August 2018 wedding. The quickly deleted photo was the wrong photo from the right wedding. We apologize for the error."

Both players were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Mays in 1979 and McCovey in 1986.

Mays, who is the oldest living Baseball Hall of Famer, is arguably one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game.

Thus far, Pelosi has not received nearly as much widespread, and at times harsh condemnation that Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Dan Sullivan received last year when they attempted to honor Rep. John Robert Lewis but accidentally shared a photo of Rep. Elijah Cummings instead.