Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) raged on the House floor Thursday, calling her Republican colleagues racist and violent, and pointing out the glaring hypocrisy in their decision to kick Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) off the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“One of the disgusting legacies after 9/11 has been the targeting and racism against Muslim Americans throughout the United States of America and this is an extension of that legacy,” she said as she bounced, waved and wagged her hands with fiery passion. “There is nothing consistent with the Republican Party’s continued attack except for the racism and incitement of violence against women of color in this body.”
After Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) were booted from their committee posts by Democrats in 2021 over their violent rhetoric, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had promised revenge. With McCarthy as speaker, both were appointed this year to top committee assignments.
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The GOP took it a step further Thursday when a majority of House Republicans voted to boot Omar over earlier comments they said invoked antisemitic tropes, despite Omar’s apologies.
Ocasio-Cortez came to her defense Thursday in a flaming, passionate speech.
Referring to Gosar, who infamously tweeted a cringy anime clip of her being murdered, she fumed that she had a “member of the Republican caucus threaten my life” and he went on to be rewarded with a “prestigious” committee assignment. She never got an apology, she said.
“Don’t tell me this is about consistency. Don’t tell me that 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 a tired amount of tropes, and also elevated her to some of the highest committee assignments in this body,” she continued, referring to Greene, who has pushed bonkers, antisemitic conspiracies like a theory that Jews paid for a satellite that caused California wildfires.
“This is about targeting women of color in the United States of America. Don’t tell me because I didn’t get a single apology when my life was threatened, thank you,” she concluded before slamming her book shut, slapping it onto the dais, and storming off.
Before Thursday’s vote, Omar accused House Republicans of punishing her because of her Muslim faith and Somalian background. She is allowed to appeal their decision, but it’s unlikely she’ll win.
“Is anyone surprised that I’m being targeted?” Omar said. “They see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced… I will continue to speak up, because representation matters.”
