OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took verbal potshots at each other again late last week after the latter was brutally heckled during a town hall-style event in New York City.
A video clip of “AOC” being confronted by a man in the audience at the event went viral after he accused her of becoming just another member of the Washington political establishment over her support for providing assistance in the form of tens of billions of dollars in military aid and funding to Ukraine.
“None of this matters unless there’s a nuclear war, which you voted to send arms and weapons to Ukraine. You ran as an outsider, yet you’ve been voting to start this war in Ukraine,” one man loudly exclaimed.
“You’re voting to start a third nuclear war with Russia and China. Why are you playing with the lives of American citizens? Tulsi Gabbard has shown guts where you’ve shown cowardice!” he added. “I believed in you, and you became the very thing you sought to fight against. That’s what you’ve become. You are the establishment!”
WATCH:
My friend @Noggatone and I confronted Congresswoman @AOC on her support for Nuclear War and Ukrainian Nazis. I call her out for being a coward in the face of the party that will push us all into Nuclear war right now. Will she stand up like @TulsiGabbard and fight for peace? pic.twitter.com/aQiQvQSWIN
— Jose Vega – Vote Diane Sare! (@JosBtrigga) October 13, 2022
That video led Boebert to respond on Twitter: “On the rare occasions that @AOC actually spends time with her constituents, she is reminded that she has sold them out at every turn. She campaigned as an outsider and has now just morphed into #SandyPelosi!” the feisty Republican lawmaker wrote, tossing in a brutal nickname.
Not one to back down from such exchanges, AOC fired back: “Hey Boebert, you seem to have us confused. I have attended and hosted hundreds of community events, hold regular town halls and don’t take a dime in corporate cash. You are bankrolled by corporate PACs Big Ag, and Oil. You are too scared to hold regular town halls open to all.”
Hey Boebert, you seem to have us confused.
I:
✅ have attended & hosted 100s of community events
✅ hold regular town halls
✅ don’t take a dime in corporate cashYou:
🚮 are bankrolled by corporate PACs, Big Ag, & Oil
🚮 are too scared to hold regular town halls open to all pic.twitter.com/A0jrRbyFDO— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 13, 2022
Boebert then responded to the Bronx Democrat telling her to “own” her ‘establishment’ label: “I notice you took a screenshot of my tweet instead of sharing the original one with the video of you getting completely ripped to shreds by your own constituents. I have governed as I campaigned. You sold out your supporters. Just own it. You’re the machine now.”
I notice you took a screenshot of my tweet instead of sharing the original one with the video of you getting completely ripped to shreds by your own constituents.
I have governed as I campaigned. You sold out your supporters.
Just own it. You’re the machine now. https://t.co/EQKRk4n5G2
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 14, 2022
Last week, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard turned heads when she released a video in which she announced she was leaving the Democratic Party, accusing members of, among other things, becoming “warmongers.”
“The pro-war Democratic Party has led us to the brink of nuclear war. The party is led by warmongers who are firmly in the grips of the military-industrial complex, and don’t know or care about the cost of war, or who pays the price,” she said.
“President Biden and the Democratic Party elite have pushed us to the precipice of nuclear war, risking starting WWIII and destroying the world as we know it. This is the most urgent existential threat we face,” Gabbard added.
“I ran for President in 2020 because I knew that this is where we were headed. All the signs were there. I raised this issue every day during the campaign, and on the national debate stage,” she added. “But politicians and the media ignored it. They didn’t care then, and they don’t care now.”
“I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite. I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party. If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me,” the former lawmaker and current U.S. Army Reserve officer added.
I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) October 11, 2022
Later, Gabbard expounded on her reasons in her interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“I cannot be a member of a party which actively undermines our freedom,” Gabbard said. “When you look at this party, today’s Democratic Party, it’s controlled by fanatical ideologues who hate freedom. They despise the Constitution. They actively find ways to undermine our God-given rights, enshrined in the Constitution, like freedom of speech.”
‘They will do all that they can to destroy you, silence you, smear you – work with Big Tech, work with corporate media – to actively destroy anyone who dares to even question their agenda, “she said, having experienced firsthand those tactics of her now-former party. “I cannot be a member of a party that is against freedom and actively trying to undermine it.”
