Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aka AOC, held nothing back Thursday as she ripped into House Republicans before they voted in lockstep to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“As a fellow New Yorker, I think something we should talk about here is one of the disgusting legacies of 9/11 has been the targeting and racism against Muslim Americans,” Ocasio-Cortez began. “And this is an extension of that legacy.”
“There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party’s continued attacks except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body,” she continued.
RELATED STORY: 'My leadership and voice will not be diminished,' Omar says as Republicans remove her from committee
Ocasio-Cortez then spoke about a “member of the Republican caucus” who “threatened my life,” and how the RNC “rewarded him with one of the most prestigious committee assignments in this Congress.”
She was referring to Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, who posted an image on Twitter and Instagram of a video of himself assassinating AOC and President Joe Biden. The photoshopped rendering was derived from the anime program Attack on the Titan. When Gosar posted the now-deleted tweet, he asked: “Any anime fans out there?”
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted at the time that a “creepy member” of the House had “shared a fantasy video of him killing me.” Adding, “And he’ll face no consequences bc @GOPLeader cheers him on with excuses,” the New York Democrat added.
While Gosar was censured and stripped of his assignments on two congressional committees at the time, he was reinstated in January 2023 after Republicans took the House in the midterms. He and the detestable Georgia congresswoman Rep. Majorie Taylor Green both earned coveted spots on the Oversight and Accountability Committee—which apparently now has neither.
“Don’t tell me this is about consistency. Don’t tell me this is about a condemnation of antisemitic remarks when you have a member of the Republican Caucus who has talked about ‘Jewish space lasers and an entire amount of [other] tropes. And still, you elevated her [Greene] to some of the highest committee assignments in this body. This is about targeting women of color. Because I didn’t get a single apology when my life was threatened.”
Ahead of the vote, Omar said, “My leadership and voice will not be diminished if I am not on this committee for one term. My voice will get louder and stronger… So take your vote or not. I am here to stay, and I am here to be a voice against harms around the world and advocate for a better world.”
