Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Garbage Disposal Encounter Gets A Reaction On Social Media

If Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) doesn’t have enough on her plate promoting the Green New Deal and fending off every sort of accusation, from being a socialist to a pie-in-the-sky legislator, now her kitchen garbage disposal is presenting challenges.

The freshman congresswoman, having recently moved into a “bougie” apartment in Washington, D.C., touched on her recent experience with the food-shredding device in an Instagram post on Monday.

“Okay everyone I need your help because I just moved into this apartment a few months ago and I just flipped a switch and it made that noise and it scared the daylights out of me,” she said in a video posted on the social media site.

The 29-year-old admitted she’s never had a garbage disposal, and then quipped, “Is this what social mobility is? Using kitchen appliances you never saw growing up?”

She also mused whether the device was environmentally sound.

Some detractors have argued Ocasio-Cortez’s naivety is anti-elitist and evidence she is out of touch with the majority of Americans. However, she grew up in the Bronx and garbage disposals were banned in much of New York City from the 1970s until 1997, according to the New York Times. The city feared its 13,000-mile network of underground sewers and water supply would not be able to handle “an onslaught of ground food pulp.”

In her Instagram post, Ocasio-Cortez even joked about “All you people telling me to reach in and grab whatever’s there are just Republicans trying to test my health insurance.”

She also added: “I’m on to you.”