Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized President Donald Trump for referring to the impeachment inquiry as a “lynching.”
Speaking to TMZ, Ocasio-Cortez said, “Well first of all to not understand the history of our country, to not understand not only the scourge of not only slavery but the fact that lynching happened well beyond slavery.”
She continued, “It’s horrifying that he would do this, but also we have to understand he is using our pain to his advantage as well. He chose that word deliberately.”
She added, “He deliberately chooses the most racially animating, divisive terms so he can rile up that base. Because that is what he knows he can build power on. And the real question is if this is how he builds power, what does that mean for the future of our country and for our safety? He relies on the outrage, which like we have to say something. Right? We cannot allow this to be normalized. So he relies on the outrage and then he uses the outrage, takes it to the base and says ‘see they don’t like us and if you don’t like this they are being too sensitive. We are going to rally your support.’ And that is exactly how he operates in dividing this country.”
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