Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is only one week into her new job, and she's already one of the Democratic party's biggest stars. Liberals love her because she's a young, outspoken 'democratic socialist' who knows how to use social media. Conservatives don't like her, but can't stop talking about her. Eager to crush the 29-year-old supernova, they've attacked everything from her modest childhood home to her sensible work attire to her adorable dance moves.
On Sunday, Anderson Cooper's interview with Ocasio-Cortez aired on 60 Minutes. There were several key moments: When she suggested we fund a Green New Deal by raising the top marginal income tax rate to pre-Reagan levels of 70%; when she said she likes being called a radical because "it only has ever been radicals that have changed this country;" and when she said President Donald Trump is a racist, "no question."
"You don't talk about President Trump very much," observed Cooper. "No... I think he's a symptom of a problem," replied Ocasio-Cortez. "The president certainly didn't invent racism, but he's certainly given a voice to it and expanded it and created a platform for those things."
"Do you believe President Trump is a racist?" pressed Cooper. "Yes, no question," said Ocasio-Cortez. "When you look at the words that he uses, which are historic dog whistles of white supremacy, 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."
The White House responded with a statement to CBS: "Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez's sheer ignorance on the matter can't cover the fact that President Trump supported and passed historic criminal justice reform ... and ... has repeatedly condemned racism and bigotry in all forms."
On Twitter, Trump critics posted mock-incredulous replies, like "Wait, there are people who don't think he's a racist?" Meanwhile, Trump supporters leapt to their man's defense: Where's the proof? He passed criminal justice reform! What about his black friend, Kanye West? Why do liberals keep insisting that Trump's a racist?
In an article for Rolling Stone, Ryan Bort aptly summarized a few reasons:
"As a real estate developer, Trump worked to keep black people out of his properties. He maintained that the Central Park Five — five minority teenagers convicted for a 1989 rape they didn’t commit — were guilty despite DNA evidence exonerating them. He pushed a conspiracy theory that President Obama was born in Africa.
"Several people associated with The Apprentice have claimed Trump made racial slurs while filming the show, and in 2018 former contestant Omarosa Manigault-Newman released a tape of campaign aides seemingly discussing how to handle a recording of their boss saying the n-word, should it be made public. His career in politics has been based almost entirely on the idea that Muslims are terrorists and Hispanic people are criminals threatening to 'infest' the United States."
Also, Trump has harshly criticized the NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality. "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’" he said at one rally.
Well, you know what they say: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably not a duck, believe me, it the most non-duck-like animal that ever existed, everybody says so."
