AOC challenges Trump to release his college transcript
By Griffin Connolly / From Independent
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has challenged Donald Trump to release his college transcript to compare grades, saying she would do the same.
The New York freshman congresswoman issued her challenge to the president after he said on Fox Business on Thursday that she was “not even a smart person” and was “a poor student” during her time at Boston University.
It is, of course, doubtful he would know anything about her academic standing at the school since her transcript is private. But Ms Ocasio-Cortez signalled on Thursday she would be willing to share her college grade sheet if the president is willing to share his.
“Let’s make a deal, Mr. President: You release your college transcript, I’ll release mine, and we’ll see who was the better student. Loser has to fund the Post Office,” she tweeted, taking a dig at Mr Trump’s attempts to undermine the US Postal Service before the November presidential election that is expected to be conducted with millions more mail-in ballots than usual.
The president is unlikely to acquiesce to such a trade-off, as he has been highly protective of his grades and standardised testing scores from his time in high school and college.
His former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, told Congress last year that Mr Trump told him to send letters to his alma maters threatening jail time to any that released his grades to the press.
“I’m talking about a man who declares himself brilliant but directed me to threaten his high school, his colleges and the College Board to never release his grades or SAT scores,” Mr. Cohen, who is serving a three-year prison sentence for previously lying to Congress, told lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee.
Mr Trump and the GOP have given Ms Ocasio-Cortez more shine than freshman members of Congress typically receive, making her and other young progressive women of colour the new boogeywomen of their negative campaign ads against Democrats nationwide.
Democrats have condemned the excess focus on Ms Ocasio-Cortez and Congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts as a racist reaction against the wave of women minorities challenging the mostly white, mostly male conventions of lawmaking in the US.
Mr Trump has, however, predicted political success for Ms Ocasio-Cortez, saying on multiple occasions he believes she will successfully challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the New York Senate Democratic primary in 2022.
“Schumer’s going to get beaten by her. She’s going to run against Schumer, and he knows that and he’s going to get beaten by her unless you can talk her out of doing it. He has no chance,” the president said on Fox Business on Thursday.
Mr Schumer was elected in 2016 to his fourth term as a senator from New York.
