Appearing on MSNBC this past Wednesday, January 27, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York strongly criticized Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.
Ocasio-Cortez tore into McCarthy over his recent handling of extremist members of his own party like Congresswoman and conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who previously called for the execution of Democrats in Congress.
AOC said of the House Republican caucus:
"In the House Republican caucus, Kevin McCarthy answers to these QAnon members of Congress. Not the other way around."
AOC noted McCarthy neglected to strip the conspiracy theorists in his own party of their committee assignments, saying:
"There are legitimate White supremacist sympathizers that sit at the heart, and at the core, of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives."
McCarthy reportedly had plans to "speak with" Congresswoman Greene following reports she liked social media posts calling for the death of Democrats.
This didn't mean much to AOC, who commented:
"What is he going to tell them? Keep it up? Because there are no consequences in the Republican caucus for violence. There's no consequences for racism. No consequences for misogyny. No consequences for insurrection."
"And no consequences means that they condone it. It means that that silence is acceptance, and they want it because they know that it is a core animating political energy for them―and this is an extremely dangerous threshold that we have crossed."
AOC believes the GOP has evolved into something far more dangerous than it used to be.
"We really, really need to ask ourselves what they are evolving into because this is no longer about a party of limited government. This is about something much more nefarious."
Many online pointed out McCarthy did punish a member of his party—Liz Cheney of Wyoming—who voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
Twitter users praised Ocasio-Cortez for not mincing words.
Many people online hoped the Congresswoman's words would be taken seriously and followed by consequences for House members like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
It's time for far-right-wing extremist members of Congress who incite insurrections and repeatedly lie to the public to face more consequences than a stern talking to.
