Ocasio-Cortez Rails On McCarthy For Imposing ‘No Consequences’ On White Supremacist Sympathizers In The House

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) listens to testimony by Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill Feb... WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 27: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) listens to testimony by Michael Cohen, former attorney and fixer for President Donald Trump, before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill February 27, 2019 in Washington, DC. Last year Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine for tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, unlawful excessive campaign contributions and lying to Congress as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said on Wednesday that “white supremacist sympathizers” sit the heart of the House’s GOP caucus and that their increasingly extremist views have gone unchecked with “no consequences” from House leadership.

“It increasingly seems, unfortunately, that in the House Republican caucus, Kevin McCarthy answers to these QAnon members of Congress, not the other way around,” Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in an interview Wednesday night. 

The comments come after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) suggested that he would talk to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) in light of reports that the newly-elected lawmaker had endorsed executing Democrats in social media posts.

Those posts, first reported by CNN, included calls for assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and executing FBI agents.

Ocasio-Cortez said on Wednesday that the top House Republican hadn’t gone far enough in taking seriously the threat of such behavior because it was a “core animating political energy” for the GOP base.

“When I hear that Rep. McCarthy is going to pull a member aside who has made white supremacist-sympathizing comments, the thing I think is: What is he going to tell them? Keep it up?” she said.

“Because there are no consequences in the Republican caucus for violence. There’s no consequences for racism. No consequences for misogyny. No consequences for insurrection. And no consequences means that they condone it. It means that that silence is acceptance,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez was among the lawmakers who sheltered in place when a mob of former President Trump’s supported stormed the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.

Days after the deadly riot, the New York lawmaker described thinking she “was going to die” during the Jan. 6 attack and feeling unsafe among “white supremacist members of Congress” who she feared might disclose her location and allow her to be hurt or kidnapped.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. And for articulately and accurately speaking out with the truth about McCarthy and the Republican House members, AOC will be named by many in the institutional media as the “Democrat’s version of Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

    Because “bothsides”.

  2. Yes, the bothsideserism will obtain–but what it will also do is keep that debate on PundiTV, and thus continue to put huge pressure on McCarthy. This is a good thing, and an attack-mode at which AOC excels–and which (I happen to believe) Pelosi coordinates and approves. It’s smart tactics and strategy.

  3. Great move, but impossible to shame the shameless.

  4. AOC is smart, articulate and she doesn’t pull her punches. The contrast between her and any member of the facsitgop couldn’t be more stark. McCarthy’s a coward who’s still in thrall of the mar-a-lago mussolini.

  5. Isn’t McCarthy visiting with the disgraced two-timer this weekend down at Mar-a-Lago?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

197 more replies

Participants

Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for cervantes Avatar for trnc Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for tacoma Avatar for daveyjones64 Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for 26degreesrising Avatar for lastroth Avatar for gr Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for junebug Avatar for henk Avatar for jtx Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for jmacaz Avatar for bcgister Avatar for zillacop Avatar for rucleare Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for faydout Avatar for kovie Avatar for Hatmama

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: