On Saturday, after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused the GOP and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) of having “disdain for the poor” after Crenshaw slammed her for complaining about the hardships of her waitressing career, Crenshaw fired back: “We ‘republican elites’ who fought in the mountains of Afghanistan will just go ahead and check our privilege.”
At a rally for incumbent GOP Georgia Senator David Perdue, who is facing a runoff election in early January that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate, Crenshaw referenced a viral tweet from Ocasio-Cortez from December 3 in which she wrote: “Republicans like to make fun of the fact that I used to be a waitress, but we all know if they ever had to do a double they’d be the ones found crying in the walk-in fridge halfway through their first shift bc someone yelled at them for bringing seltzer when they wanted sparkling.”
Republicans like to make fun of the fact that I used to be a waitress, but we all know if they ever had to do a double they’d be the ones found crying in the walk-in fridge halfway through their first shift bc someone yelled at them for bringing seltzer when they wanted sparkling
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 4, 2020
Crenshaw, an Afghanistan war veteran who lost an eye in service of the U.S., stated at the rally, “These people are nuts. It’s not just Chuck Schumer; Chuck Schumer is controlled by people like AOC, who believes that the biggest hardship in life was figuring out whether it was still or sparkling, and you don’t know hardship until you’ve cried in the back. I was thinking, I was like, jeez, I am so glad I did not have to do that in my former career. That was my biggest problem in the mountains of Afghanistan was [figuring] — do we offer them still or sparkling, and what if they don’t like it? Rough out there, man. That’s Congress these days. We cannot give these people control.”
NEW: Perdue campaign mocks @AOC's working class roots… #GASenRunoff pic.twitter.com/UXRHS9og7F
— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) December 5, 2020
Ocasio-Cortez snapped, “The GOP acts like they care, but behind closed doors, this is what they actually say about the working class. Good to know how little you truly think of food workers, @DanCrenshawTX. I wonder: did you have catering while bonding w/wealthy donors over your disdain for the poor?”
The GOP acts like they care, but behind closed doors, this is what they actually say about the working class.
Good to know how little you truly think of food workers, @DanCrenshawTX.
I wonder: did you have catering while bonding w/ wealthy donors over your disdain for the poor? https://t.co/qrZShdTbME
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 5, 2020
Crenshaw fired back, “Lol thank you for highlighting how ridiculous you sound. We ‘republican elites’ who fought in the mountains of Afghanistan will just go ahead and check our privilege.”
Lol thank you for highlighting how ridiculous you sound.
We “republican elites” who fought in the mountains of Afghanistan will just go ahead and check our privilege. https://t.co/jCi2njWj6s
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) December 5, 2020
After Ocasio-Cortez defended the Veterans Administration in 2019, saying that it was providing the “highest quality of [health]care” to veterans, adding, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” many veterans harshly criticized her.
Ocasio-Cortez graduated from Boston University in 2011, after which she worked as a waitress and bartender before she ran for Congress in 2018.
Meanwhile, Crenshaw, who had graduated from Tufts University in 2006 and been accepted as a Navy Seal — completing SEAL qualification training in June 2008 — did five tours of duty and lost his right eye in 2012 when he was hit by an improvised explosive device blast in Helmand province in Afghanistan. He had surgery to restore sight in his left eye. After that, he deployed twice more. Crenshaw was awarded two Bronze Star medals, the Purple Heart, the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor, and retired as a lieutenant commander.