Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Spills a Delightful Amount of Tea on Her Republican Colleagues

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went on Seth Meyer’s Late Night on Thursday, and, as is so often the case, she was a total delight. She clarified some misunderstandings of the Green New Deal, commented on Fox News’ obsession with her, and spilled a surprising amount of tea regarding some of her colleagues. She didn’t name them, but she sure didn’t paint the most flattering picture.

Meyers asked her about her skill for questioning on congressional panels and where that comes from, given that she doesn’t come from politics. She repeated what she’s said before: that her background in bartending and waitressing means that she has loads of experience in listening to people, as well as a highly developed ability to shut down bullshit.

That’s not true for all of her colleagues, who, as anyone who’s ever watched a congressional hearing knows, can be prone to grandstanding and wandering wildly off-topic.

She told the story of one unnamed Republican lawmaker who she says is famous for always asking the same strange question. “Every single Financial Services Committee hearing, he says, ‘I ask everyone this are you a capitalist or a socialist?’ she imitates in a nasally voice that is hilarious but sounds nothing like the person she’s talking about. (Because while she won’t name Texas’ Roger Williams in her story, I will!)

“And the best thing, too, is last week, he actually said, ‘Are you a capitalist or socialist, yes or no?’ And the woman said, ‘yes or no?’ And he says, ‘yeah!’ And she goes, ‘yes.’ And it was the whole panel,” AOC says, “he made everyone go down and everyone said, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.”

You can watch that moment here and it truly is as funny and as detached from any meaningful subject at hand as she describes.

Meyers also brought up Fox News’ obsession with her, and asked whether her Fox-watching Republican colleagues ever believe the misinformation the network loves to spread about her. She said that that does happen–one walked up to her recently on the House floor and asked if it was true that she’d gotten $10 million from Netflix. That’s not true, by the way. Netflix reportedly paid $10 million for a documentary out of Sundance about the political campaign of four progressive women, including AOC. But she was a subject of the film, not an owner or creator, so none of that $10 million went to her.

I’m not sure if Fox News ever discussed the Netflix deal, but the lie that AOC got a giant payout was spread by conservative Facebook groups and public figures like Diamond & Silk. And as Ocasio-Cortez says, if her fellow congresspeople believe that, “What else do you not know? This is concerning!”

Agreed, it is concerning!

The second half of Ocasio-Cortez’s interview is equally delightful, as she rebuts criticism of the Green New Deal, shares insight into how lobbyists pay to be heard by our elected officials, and calls Donald Trump a nematode.

(image: YouTube)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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