Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to Sen. Joe Manchin after he said the New York Democrat focuses on tweeting more than “anything else,” amid a feud over defunding the police.
“I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing & grassroots fundraising to ‘she just tweets,’ as though ‘serious’ politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Tuesday evening.
I find it amusing when politicians try to diminish the seriousness of our policy work, movement organizing & grassroots fundraising to “she just tweets,” as though “serious” politics is only done by begging corporate CEOs for money through wax-sealed envelopes delivered by raven
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2020
The response comes after Manchin, who is also a Democrat, told the New York Times this week that he has “never met” Ocasio-Cortez and said she focuses on being “more active on Twitter than anything else.”
“I guess she put the dagger stare on me,” Manchin told the New York Times. “I don’t know the young lady — I really don’t. I never met her. I’m understanding she’s not that active with her bills or in committee. She’s more active on Twitter than anything else.”
The feud between the two Democrats began last month after Manchin tweeted he did not support defunding the police.
“Defund the police? Defund, my butt,” Manchin tweeted. “I’m a proud West Virginia Democrat. We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans’ jobs & healthcare. We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police.”
Ocasio-Cortez hit back at the tweet with a photo of herself staring down Manchin at the State of the Union address.
https://t.co/4D4LVOyYhc pic.twitter.com/MwNIc41Szj
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 12, 2020
The New York representative has been an adamant supporter of defunding the police, and she criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal earlier this year of cutting $1 billion from police funds in New York City.
“Defunding police means defunding police,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement at the time. “It does not mean budget tricks or funny math. It does not mean moving school police officers from the NYPD budget to the Department of Education’s budget so the exact same police remain in schools.”
