Even Trump’s Onboard with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal”; Say’s “Very Important” for Democrats to Press Forward, It Would Be Great

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump sarcastically tweeted that he believed Democrats should embrace Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” resolution.

“I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal,” Trump tweeted Saturday evening. “It would be great for the so-called ‘Carbon Footprint’ to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!”

I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their Green New Deal. It would be great for the so-called “Carbon Footprint” to permanently eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez released her highly-anticipated Green New Deal resolution Thursday. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey released a companion bill in the Senate, and both versions were sponsored by Democratic lawmakers eyeing a 2020 presidential bid.

The Green New Deal bill calls for “10-year national mobilizations” to fight global warming by pushing “clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources” and “dramatically expanding and upgrading existing renewable power sources.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s non-binding resolution also calls for drastically expanding the welfare state, including “a family-sustaining wage, adequate family and medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security” and “high-quality health care” benefits for Americans.

The Green New Deal is meant to be a litmus test for Democrats running for president, but the bill has also got Republicans optimistic about their chances in 2020. The GOP cast the resolution as “socialist” because of its unprecedented expansion of government over people’s lives.

Trump’s tweet suggests he too thinks it will help Republicans in the next election cycle.

Republicans also caught a break because Ocasio-Cortez’s office botched the Green New Deal’s roll out. An “FAQ” document that Ocasio-Cortez’s staff distributed to the media along with the resolution contained numerous gaffes, including anti-nuclear language, a reference to “farty cows” and calls for “economic security” for people “unwilling to work.”

Eventually, Ocasio-Cortez’s staff took the FAQ off her webpage. Green New Dealers then went into damage control mode, even claiming the FAQ was “doctored” by conservatives on social media.

Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti made the claim, but also admitted an “unfinished” FAQ “got published to the website by mistake.” Though, he did not explain why NPR was also given a gaffe-riddled FAQ.

There separately IS a doctored FAQ floating around. And an early draft of a FAQ that was clearly unfinished and that doesn’t represent the GND resolution got published to the website by mistake (idea was to wait for launch, monitor q's, and rewrite that FAQ before publishing).

— Saikat Chakrabarti (@saikatc) February 9, 2019

A Daily Caller News Foundation investigation, however, debunked the misleading damage control efforts by Ocasio-Cortez, her staff and one of her advisers.