Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Decries ‘Racist’ GOP PAC Ad Targeting Socialism

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a gathering of the National Actio
DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images
Hannah Knudsen

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) decried a GOP PAC ad that aired during the Democrat debate Thursday evening. She called the ad, which targeted her socialist ideas, “violent,” “false,” and a “love letter to the GOP’s white supremacist case.”

The New Faces of the GOP ran a 30-second ad targeting Ocasio-Cortez’s socialist ideas. It featured an image of the freshman lawmaker, which was burned away to show depictions of skeletons from the Cambodian genocide. Elizabeth Heng, who launched an unsuccessful bid against incumbent Democrat Jim Costa in California’s 16th Congressional District in 2018, narrated the dangers of socialism as the harrowing images flashed on the screen.

“This is the face of socialism and ignorance,” Heng said. “Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know the horror of socialism?”

“My father was minutes from death in Cambodia before a forced marriage saved his life. That’s socialism. Forced obedience. Starvation. Mine is a face of freedom. My skin is not white. I’m not outrageous, racist or socialist. I’m a Republican,” she continued:

However, Ocasio-Cortez asserted that the ad used her image due to racism, rather than the socialist ideology she routinely espouses.

“Republicans are running TV ads setting pictures of me on fire to convince people they aren’t racist,” she wrote.

“Life is weird!” she exclaimed, calling the ad “a love letter to the GOP’s white supremacist case”:

Fellow “Squad” member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) also condemned the ad, calling it a “display of violence.”

“The mere act of burning her image is a display of violence,” she wrote in part. “Folks need to stick to facts & policy positions.”

“They need to stop fear mongering & more importantly demonizing members of Congress. FYI: No one puts her residents (and our planet) first, like @AOC,” she added:

Ocasio-Cortez retweeted Tlaib and accused ABC and Sinclair of “amplifying” displays of violence.

“GOP’s message: No policy, no facts, just displays of violence + corporations like @ABCNetwork & Sinclair who amplify them,” she wrote.

“They profit from burning my likeness on TV. But who pays for heightened security? Who answers the phones for the threats resulting from a violent, false ad?” she asked:

Heng responded to Ocasio-Cortez, questioning the freshman lawmaker’s accusations of racism and pointing out that she is “calling all Democrats out for supporting an evil ideology.”

“Not Republicans. Me. Are you really calling me a racist @aoc? I’m calling all Democrats out for supporting an evil ideology,” Heng said.

“Or are you just in Congress to hang out with celebrities and tweet out ridiculous ideas like the green new deal?” she asked:

Heng added that Ocasio-Cortez’s response is emblematic of the Democrat Party.

“They are more offended by truthful words than the acts of their political ideology that has killed millions of innocent victims. I don’t care about @AOC feelings – I care about stopping her lies about the lies of socialism,” she wrote:

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