At 25 years old, newly elected U.S. Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost is the first Gen-Z member of Congress. His age is just one of the aspects that gives him a unique perspective among his new colleagues in Washington politics but those colleagues—especially Republicans across the aisle—are making it clear just how little they understand about the issues facing Frost’s generation.
Frost has spoken before about the challenges of finding housing in Washington D.C. Back in 2018, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared her similar struggles, explaining that new members of Congress are expected to move to the extremely expensive housing market of D.C. before their new congressional salaries kick in. It’s just one more example of how difficult it is for working-class people to break into these political institutions.
Frost, like AOC before him, has explained how the requirement to move and secure housing before starting a new term is a huge obstacle for anyone who doesn’t come from personal or inherited wealth. This seems like an easy enough concept to grasp but some Republicans are insisting on obstinance.
The “RNC Research” Twitter account, which is run by the Republican National Committee, tweeted a clip of an interview Frost gave to ABC, writing, “Florida Democrat Congressman-elect Maxwell Frost — whose salary as a Member of Congress will be $174,000/year — says he’s ‘probably just gonna have to like couch surf for a little bit.'”
The inclusion of Frost’s salary—along with the entire purpose of the account, which is, as its bio reads, “exposing the lies” and “hypocrisy” of the Democrat Party”—gives the clear impression that they’re mocking his claims of financial hardship.
As Frost himself noted in response, you have to be pretty out of touch with the lives of average working people to not understand that most jobs don’t pay you before you start work and that moving into a new apartment is an expensive ordeal.
The Republicans behind this account literally can’t even imagine what it would be like to be entering politics without inherited wealth and nepotistic connections, and they’re mocking Frost for their own ignorance.
They really are telling on themselves in all sorts of ways.
(image: screenshot)
