Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has sent shockwaves through the New York political scene this week, over a Thanksgiving turkey scandal of epic proportions. Known as a rising star and a central figure in the Democrat Party’s brain trust, ‘AOC’ is at least partly known for an annual turkey drive that she runs every year at this time. However, she mixed up the formula this year. What she did is so shocking that she has somehow managed to “out-corrupt” one of the most corrupt Members of Congress (who is also a Democrat, naturally).
Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of year. We gather with friends and family whom we haven’t seen in a while. Carve up the old bird. Eat too much pumpkin pie and drink too much beer while watching a crummy football game.
Then, we all wake up at the butt-crack of dawn the next morning to slog through Black Friday shopping while regretting our life choices. It’s a beautiful and truly American holiday tradition.
It’s also a time of year when we all have the opportunity to spread some holiday cheer and help out the less fortunate. To her credit—and we mean this sincerely—AOC has always embraced her high-profile ability to help out needy families in her district around the holidays.
Every single year that she’s been in office, she has done a turkey drive and solicited donations for local charities in her district. In 2021, she helped raise $33,589.64 for three local charities, with all contributions going directly to turkey dinners for needy families.
And good for her! We really do mean that. She’s given away thousands of turkeys every year that she’s been in office. That’s really nice, and worthy of praise.
However, people quickly noticed there was something different about AOC’s pitch for turkey donations this year. Instead of sending would-be donors directly to the websites of the charities, her fundraising pitch this year sent all donors… to her campaign website.
All donations for this year’s turkey drive are being processed by ActBlue and going straight into AOC’s campaign coffers. So much for all that holiday cheer she used to spread.
There’s been a lot of speculation that AOC might run for higher office soon. She’s beating Chuck Schumer badly in hypothetical polls on the race for his US Senate seat. People are also floating the idea that she could run for president in 2028, since the Democrats’ shallow bench only includes Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, and Pete Buttigieg.
Did she pull this ethically shaky turkey drive to raise more funds for her future political aspirations?
Local politicians in New York from both parties are shocked by this turkey stunt.
Former City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R) says, “What if she raised enough money for a million turkeys? Would she buy a million turkeys, or would she keep $990,000 for her campaign and then throw the rest of the turkeys out the back of a truck and take a photo-op?”
“Socialists like AOC and Mamdani love to promise everything for free, but somehow it always ends with them shaking down working people under the guise of community goodwill,” said City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens). “It is a typical bait and switch, pretending to be for the people while quietly pillaging them for every dollar they can get.”
The New York Post investigated more than a dozen New York politicians when checking out this scandal. The only two who used their official campaign accounts to solicit cash for turkeys were AOC, and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
Meeks is often characterized by watchdog groups as “the most corrupt member of Congress.” And that’s really saying something! Nancy Pelosi is still in Congress, after all.
Meeks is constantly under House ethics investigations for suspicious financial transactions, overseas junkets paid for by foreign lobbyists, and the Allen Stanford Ponzi Scheme back in 2016. He’s always complaining about how financially poor he is on the campaign trail, even though he’s been photographed in ritzy casinos all over the world.
But even Gregory Meeks didn’t directly take the cash for the turkeys. His website directs donors to go to charity sites to contribute. AOC was the only politician the Post could find that was taking cash for turkeys directly into her own campaign account.
She did it! Somehow, AOC managed to come across as even more corrupt than “the most corrupt member of Congress.”
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you weren’t planning on a turkey dinner from AOC this year.