Democratic firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Republicans on Tuesday for being unwilling to speak up against Donald Trump. The New York representative told Rolling Stone magazine that there’s a “hostage situation” happening in Congress — one that is preventing people from challenging the president despite knowing, as she believes, that it is the right thing to do.
“Well, in the Republican Party, there’s a hostage situation going on,” she said. “There are a lot of Republicans that know what the right thing to do is — not just on impeachment but on a wide range of issues — and they refuse to speak up.”
Ocasio-Cortez says that for some Republicans, standing up to Trump would be “political suicide.” She says that’s unacceptable, because, for her, it’s a question of civil rights — and not an issue of playing politics.
She added that it doesn’t matter to her if Republican representatives can acknowledge what the right thing is behind closed doors. If Republican representatives were to speak up and get voted out of office for someone who actually supports Trump, the effect is the same.
“The problem is that if they vote the same way, what does it matter? I don’t care what’s in your heart if how you are voting is the same as someone who is actually racist. At the end of the day, they think that their intentions are gonna save them, but the actual decisions you make matter,” she said.
The 29-year-old added that she is tired of hearing people say that they aren’t bigoted, but then they vote or support the actions of someone she believes is bigoted.
When asked if she would vote to impeach the president, she said there was no question in her mind that she would. For her and her constituents, the answer is an easy one.
The interview comes just as Ocasio-Cortez made waves for calling out the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, on social media for saying that most people don’t want a guaranteed minimum income.
Ivanka Trump goes after Ocasio-Cortez policies in Fox News Interview: “People want to work for what they get. So, I think that this idea of a guaranteed minimum is not something most people want.” https://t.co/tE4to2fhT1 pic.twitter.com/YjEi9F0aeE
— Axios (@axios) February 26, 2019
During an interview, as The Inquisitr reported, Trump said that the U.S. economy is doing well and that people want to work for their income, so a guaranteed minimum, like the one Ocasio-Cortez has spoken about, is a non-starter.
Ocasio-Cortez shot back that as someone who knows what it is like to work for tips and hourly wages, she knows how important a living wage is. She also accused the president’s daughter of never having had the experience of working for a fair wage.
