Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explains 'farting cows' and a 70% tax on the ultra-rich on 'Desus & Mero'
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that no American needs to make more than $10 million a year during an episode of Showtime's "Desus & Mero" that aired on Thursday night.
- The 29-year-old Democrat also said Americans need to rethink their diets and personal decisions in relation to climate change and that the government needs to "take a look at" factory farming.
- "Maybe we shouldn't be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner," she said. "What we need to realize is that climate change is about every choice that we make in our lives."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that no American needs to make more than $10 million a year while explaining her proposal to hike marginal tax rates on the ultra-rich during an episode of Showtime's "Desus & Mero."
"Please look straight into the camera and explain the tax shit for the dumb motherf--kers who keep saying, 'If I make a million dollars, she's going to take 70 million dollars away from me!'" one of the hosts, The Kid Mero, asked Ocasio-Cortez during Thursday's premiere.
The congresswoman said her proposed 70% marginal tax rate would only apply to annual income that exceeds $10 million. She also argued that in a society with widening income inequality a $10 million salary is plenty.
"It really comes down to the question of, isn't $10 million enough? When does it stop?" she said during an episode of show that aired on Thursday night. "At what point is it immoral that we're building Jeff Bezos a helipad when we have the most amount of homeless people in New York City?"
Last month, the 29-year-old New York progressive rattled the political establishment by arguing that it's "immoral" for billionaires to exist in a society with widespread poverty.
The congresswoman also addressed her Green New Deal, which includes a proposal to reduce pollution in the agricultural industry. The hosts pointed to a document her office released, and later retracted, that mentioned the environmental impacts of "farting cows."
"We need to take a look at factory farming ... it's wild," she said. "Maybe we shouldn't be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner ... What we need to realize is that climate change is about every choice that we make in our lives."
Ocasio-Cortez also told the duo that the abuse she receives online doesn't bother her because it's "validation that you're doing something real."
"Because if you're just flying under the radar, just trying to get your check, not rock the boat, then what's the point of being in politics?" she said. "What is the point of doing things if you're just trying to maintain the status quo that doesn't help people?"
Ocasio-Cortez is the most-followed member of Congress on social media by a large margin, and she has hosted a Twitter class for other Democrats.