Republicans are absolutely obsessed with freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, to the point of bordering on madness. The Washington Post notes that as an outspoken young woman of color and a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America who represents a diverse, urban district, Ocasio-Cortez is the future of America and its changing demographics. This scares the crap out of those who are determined to live in the past. They pine for the days when white men ruled absolutely everything, and people of color and women were seen and not heard.
As a result, many on the right spend their days actively trying to discredit everything about her—from her intelligence, to her clothing, to her perceived inability to afford housing in Washington, D.C., one of the most expensive cities in the country.
Republicans Ed Rollins and Rush Limbaugh recently dismissed Ocasio-Cortez as a “little girl” and “some young uppity.” The Washington Examiner’s Eddie Scarry tweeted a photo of her in November and wrote that she doesn’t “look like a girl who struggles.” The Daily Caller promoted what it described as a possible “nude selfie” of her last week before walking back its headline.
Note: “uppity” is the word often used to describe people of color who don’t know their place. But we should expect nothing less from the racist party of Donald Trump.
The Republican obsession with AOC, as she is known to many, is so bizarre and scary that even some Republicans are questioning their colleagues about it.
That would make sense, if Republicans were sensible. But they have zero substantive policy ideas to offer Americans and their party leader spends his days tweeting hateful things about his enemies so they have devolved into insults, sexism, and lies about the newest and youngest member of Congress. Her GOP critics say that they are fighting the promotion of socialist ideas. But really, she’s a convenient distraction from their obvious inability to govern, and their old, angry white male impotence.
For her part, Ocasio-Cortez remains unbothered by Republicans. She has more than 2 million followers on Twitter and regularly uses her social media platform as well as her growing media influence to clap back at Republican insults.
“It’s encouraging because this is my sixth day in Congress and they’re out of all their artillery,” she said in a recent interview. “The nude is supposed to be like the bazooka. You know, like, ‘We’re going to take her down.’ Dude, you’re all out of bullets, you’re all out of bombs, you’re all out of all this stuff. What have you got left?”
To answer her question: they’ve got absolutely nothing left. But, sadly, they’ll keep trying. Meanwhile, the rest of us are looking forward to seeing what she’ll do in Congress. Here’s an idea: For 2019, let’s see if we can have more videos of AOC dancing while simultaneously leading a progressive wave in the House. Now, that will really drive Republicans insane!
