Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dug a deeper hole on the double standard of her “concentration camp” comments.
The New York Democrat was confronted Thursday by CNN‘s Jake Tapper on her incendiary remarks last week when she likened detention facilities on the U.S. border to concentration camps.
(Video: YouTube/CNN)
Tapper pressed Ocasio-Cortez to explain herself after she had criticized the Trump administration and retweeted an article to support her false claims about the detention centers. Her comments set off days of follow-up exchanges debating the inaccuracy of her claims and the controversial argument over the difference between “concentration camps” and “death camps.”
“One of the points that was made in that very story was that, using that definition, there were also concentration camps under Obama, and under Bill Clinton. That’s in the story that you retweeted,” Tapper said. “So, did you call them concentration camps at the time, when Obama was president?”
“Well, at the time, I was working in a restaurant, but I do — I absolutely was outspoken against Obama’s immigration policies and the detention of families then,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.
“I think it’s a remarkably consistent position, and I’m not here to defend wrong actions just because they happened under a Democratic administration,” she declared. “I’m here to speak truth to power. If it’s wrong, it’s wrong, and I frankly don’t care what president does it.”
The self-proclaimed democratic socialist also made the amazing claim that some Holocaust survivors, their descendants and the Jewish community in her district had “rallied around” her on the issue after Tapper asked her what she would say to those who have been hurt by her comparison.
“I have many in my district, and our Jewish community has rallied around this issue,” the freshman lawmaker replied.
“Because when we talk about concentration camps, if we do not also talk about Japanese internment, if we don’t talk about the Boer War, if we don’t talk about the many times this has happened in the history of humanity, then we also erase the suffering of those people,” she added.
“I believe that we have also made sure that we explicitly use the term ‘concentration camp.’ And we have to learn from the slow process, the slow, dehumanizing process that leads to horrible things happening to people,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez says that she and her team have made sure to tell Holocaust survivors that she is right for using the term “concentration camp”
Ocasio-Cortez once again invokes “Never Again,” which is an explicit reference to the Holocaust pic.twitter.com/ljR6RbbJ6e
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 27, 2019
While the congresswoman has offered no apologies, she has also doubled down on her comments, lashing out at other lawmakers while declining an invitation to tour personally Auschwitz. Holocaust survivors have condemned her for making the comparison.
Holocaust survivors have ripped AOC for calling immigrant detention facilities “concentration camps”
“You have no concentration camps here”
“What you are doing, you are insulting every victim of the Holocaust”
“Don’t talk to me about concentration camps”pic.twitter.com/0K33zUCLwS
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 27, 2019
While the 29-year-old lawmaker blasted President Trump for border policies and the crisis at overcrowded detention centers along the border, she slammed the emergency border aid bill that passed the House Thursday, claiming she wants a “pure humanitarian bill.”
“The problem right now and the question at hand is Mitch McConnell sent us a bill & we’re putting a big checkmark on it instead of even trying to negotiate…what Mitch McConnell is doing is relying on the time pressure of recess,” she said.
AOC was one of 4 Democrats that even votes against the partisan Dem House aid bill. Now she’s upset the House might pass a bipartisan bill that actually helps the kids she pretended to be concerned about. https://t.co/fevQrkTHQ7
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 27, 2019
She says she wants a “pure humanitarian bill,” but the only provisions of the Senate bill that aren’t directly linked to “getting money to those kids” is the 30 additional immigration judge teams.
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) June 27, 2019
She’s against all the proposed solutions. But suuuuper cares a lot, you guys. https://t.co/VrTL192tz3
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 27, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez’s response to Tapper’s question on the double standard of her concentration camps remarks left many Twitter users even more confused about her ignorance.
This is a coward’s answer, @AOC.
Are you saying that if people aren’t running for election, or aren’t politicians themselves…they shouldn’t care about things YOU CALLED CONCENTRATION CAMPS?
Pretty sure this is the exact argument much of the German populace used… https://t.co/IG6m4nVudD
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) June 27, 2019
If she was that ignorant a short 4 years ago, perhaps she’s not the kind of person who should be in congress. https://t.co/xUg0DjZuVV
— Harold Stickeehans (@StickeeNotes) June 27, 2019
It’s a simple yes or no…
— Unassuming (@Unassuming18) June 27, 2019
Is that a yes?
— Bonnie O (@bloc52) June 27, 2019
How dare Jake Tapper insult @AOC by insinuating that her opinion while “working in a restaurant” isn’t just as valid as….
Oh… wait… she said that about herself to try to avoid responsi….
Um. Never mind. https://t.co/zmPIm5sK1o
— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) June 27, 2019
The simple reality is she doesn’t have the courage to call out the behavior of Obama, Biden, etc. If she was honest, she’d have to admit they were as bad…and then the moral authority of her party at least partially disappears.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) June 27, 2019
Watched this live and I’m guessing this video is about to go viral https://t.co/Y1RA0Op2Fv
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) June 27, 2019
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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