Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during multiple recent interviews, going as far as to say that she believes that Pelosi is targeting her because Pelosi is racist.
“I think sometimes people think that we have a relationship,” Ocasio-Cortez told The New Yorker Radio Hour. “Not particularly.”
“The last time I kind of spoke to her one on one was when she asked me to join the Select Committee on Climate Change,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “I was assigned to some of the busiest committees and four subcommittees. So my hands are full. And sometimes I wonder if they’re trying to keep me busy.”
Ocasio-Cortez suggested to The Washington Post on Wednesday that Pelosi was a racist: “When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood. But the persistent singling out . . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful . . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”
Pelosi has repeatedly mocked Ocasio-Cortez and the other three far-left freshmen House Democrats, recently telling The New York Times: “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
Pelosi echoed a similar statement in April, saying: “While there are people who have a large number of Twitter followers, what’s important is that we have large numbers of votes on the floor of the House.”
Pelosi also mocked Ocasio-Cortez in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” in April, while dismissing the far-left wing of the party.
“So you are contending with a group in Congress: Over here on the left flank are these self-described socialists, on the right, these moderates,” host Lesley Stahl said. “And you yourself said that you’re the only one who can unify everybody. And the question is, can you?”
“By and large, whatever orientation they came to Congress with, they know that we have to hold the center,” Pelosi responded. “That we have to go down the mainstream.”
“You have these wings — AOC, and her group on one side —” Lesley responded.
“That’s like five people,” Pelosi fired back.
Pelosi told an audience in April that a “glass of water” with a “D” next to it “would win” in Ocasio-Cortez’s district.