On June 8, 2024, Alina Habba gave what was intended to be a moving speech about her humble origins at the Turning Point USA event. “My first home when I was born was across the street from a McDonald’s, and my father used to take the money that he could have and got a Coke and a pack of peanuts every day so that we could survive,” she said in a clip shared to X, previously Twitter. But not everyone was moved.
Some were confused as to how the fast food chain related to the Habbas’ choice of snack. As one X user pointed out, McDonald’s isn’t known for its peanut products. “Must be a regional thing. Or a fib.” Others questioned how the Habbas could have gone from living on soda and peanuts to sending their kids to elite schools in just a few short years. “Her father was a doctor and she went to a high school that cost $50,000 a year but ok,” another X user wrote.
Habba doubled down on the veracity of her story despite the online backlash. Days later, she attributed the criticism to a bad case of Trump derangement syndrome on the part of her detractors. “I know that there were comments that were just beyond comprehension, trying to break down, fact-check me. I really can’t be fact-checked on my life,” she said on “The Charlie Kirk Show” on June 10, 2024 (via Raw Story).
