Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Had A Cutting Response To Ivanka's Green New Deal Criticism

In an interview segment released Tuesday by Fox News, Ivanka Trump said that she isn't a fan of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal proposal, and claimed that most Americans wouldn't want a guaranteed job from the government. Ocasio-Cortez responded to Ivanka's Green New Deal criticism later in the day, suggesting in a tweet that Ivanka isn't in a position to speak for "most Americans."

"I don't think most Americans in their heart want to be given something," Ivanka said. "I've spent a lot of time traveling around this country the last four years. People want to work for what they get. So I think this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want."

Ocasio-Cortez's proposal, like other Green New Deal plans, seeks to fight income inequality and climate change in one fell swoop. One way in which it will do this, according to a House resolution introduced by Ocasio-Cortez, is by "guaranteeing a job with a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations, and retirement security to all people of the United States." These jobs would all be related to preserving the environment and fighting global warming, the text of the resolution makes clear.

Ocasio-Cortez quickly addressed Ivanka's criticisms, and she didn't pull any punches.

"As a person who actually worked for tips & hourly wages in my life, instead of having to learn about it 2nd-hand, I can tell you that most people want to be paid enough to live," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "A living wage isn’t a gift, it’s a right. Workers are often paid far less than the value they create."

In a subsequent tweet, she added that "wages are so low today compared to actual worker productivity that they are no longer the reflections of worker value as they used to be." She linked to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute showing that since 1973, productivity has grown 6.2 times more than wages.

Ocasio-Cortez also tweeted later, "Imagine attacking a Jobs Guarantee by saying ‘people prefer to earn money.’ ???"

Many on Twitter made similar observations, noting that unlike most Americans, Ivanka was born into a fabulously wealthy family and has worked largely, though not exclusively, for organizations started by her father and grandfather. Although she had no political experience prior to 2015, she currently works as a senior adviser to the president, who has claimed that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese to make America less competitive.

"Ivanka Trump criticized the Green New Deal, saying she doesn't think most Americans 'want to be given something' like a 'guaranteed job,'" actor George Takei tweeted. "What, like the one she got in the White House?"

Although Ivanka hasn't directly addressed those criticisms, she did push back against a tweet from Yahoo Lifestyles that accused her of "challenging Ocasio-Cortez's minimum-wage platform."

"No I did not," Ivanka wrote. "I support a minimum wage. I do not however believe in a minimum guarantee for people 'unwilling to work' which was the question asked of me." Although the full interview hasn't been released, the phrase "unwilling to work" is not used in the clip segment that Fox News released.