On ‘60 Minutes’ Ocasio-Cortez Calls Trump a Racist

New U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, told Anderson Cooper last night that she believes Donald Trump is “racist.”

In a 60 Minutes interview that covered many different subjects, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was asked by Cooper  “Do you believe President Trump is a racist?”

She replied “Yeah. Yeah. No question,” citing Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric as proof to support her conclusion.

“When you look at the words that he uses, which are historic dog whistles of white supremacy,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “When you look at how he reacted to the Charlottesville incident, where neo-Nazis murdered a woman, versus how he manufactures crises like immigrants seeking legal refuge on our borders, it’s night and day.”

Ocasio-Cortez also pointed out that the president is not the cause of the problem but is merely “a symptom of a problem,” saying,

“The president certainly didn’t invent racism. But he’s given a voice to it and expanded it and created a platform for those things.”

In response to Ocasio-Cortez, the White House told “60 Minutes” that the congresswoman’s “sheer ignorance on the matter can’t cover the fact that President Trump supported and passed historic criminal justice reform,” adding that Trump has also “repeatedly condemned racism and bigotry in all forms.”

In the interview, Cooper also asked Ocasio-Cortez about criticisms that she’s pushing the Democratic Party too far to the left and about her proposals to increase taxes to help pay for her “Green New Deal” to fight global warming.

During the interview Ocasio-Cortez also apologized if the president was hurt by her insults.

“If he felt genuinely threatened by me, then I apologize,” she said. “But I think that frankly, it’s any legal advice that anyone would give him.”

Then she said that Trump should not attack members of Congress because they now have subpoena power over him and his administration. And she clarified that she doesn’t mind breaking all of the rules.

“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen,” she commented about Trump’s whining.

The president is known for saying that he’s a “counter-puncher” and that he hits back hard when somebody comes after him. But when women do the same to him, he whines and then treats them like the enemy.

About this, Ocasio-Cortez said:

“People know that if you’re coming after me, you’re opening yourself up. People know that my style is sarcastic but honest and I take people at their word. And I will hold them accountable as well.”

She clarified that she was not issuing threats to people who come after her, and then added: “I will take you down a peg if you’re not being fair.”

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.