When it comes to political comedy, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is the gift that keeps on giving. Each week, Liberty Nation uncovers the blunders that keep us wondering: How did she ever get elected?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once again attracted criticism from Americans on the left and the right for showcasing her ignorance of history and politics. This week, the AOC news cycle centered on comments she made about the conditions in which migrants are kept in detention centers. But, as usual, she went too far.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
AOC Violates Godwin’s Law
At a time when the Democratic Party is coming under fire for apparent anti-Semitism within its ranks, AOC decided to use the Holocaust to score cheap political points. In one of her famous Instagram live streams, the representative gave one of her usual rants about how horrible and racist it is for the United States to enforce its immigration laws.
She commented on the poor conditions of the detention centers in which migrants who have illegally attempted to enter the U.S. are being housed. “The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border and that is exactly what they are,” she said.
As if that weren’t enough, the representative repeated her statement on Twitter:
“This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis.”
By now, you can probably guess what happened next. The lawmaker received no small amount of condemnation for comparing detention centers to Nazi concentration camps. So how did she respond? In true AOC form, she lied, claiming that she was not talking about the death camps used by the Third Reich. “And for the shrieking Republicans who don’t know the difference: concentration camps are not the same as death camps,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “Concentration camps are considered by experts as ‘the mass detention of civilians without trial.’ And that’s exactly what this administration is doing.”
Sounds pretty reasonable at first, right? Not so fast. During her Instagram rant, she referenced a phrase commonly associated with the Holocaust: “I want to talk to the people that are concerned enough with humanity to say that we should not – that ‘Never Again’ means something and that the fact that concentration camps are now an institutionalized practice in the home of the free is extraordinarily disturbing and we need to do something about it.”
Most people familiar with history understand that the phrase “Never Again” is a direct reference to the atrocities committed by Hitler’s regime. And while she doesn’t seem to know much, it’s unlikely that AOC is unaware of this fact. But the backlash was probably more than she bargained for.
College Students Slam Ocasio-Cortez
AOC enjoys tremendous support from younger voters, but her key demographic does not seem to appreciate her latest gaffe. Cabot Phillips of Campus Reform went to George Washington University in D.C. and questioned students on their opinions of Ocasio-Cortez’s comments. Most seemed to still favor the lawmaker, but they agreed that her statements were inappropriate.
“I think she owes a major apology to the American people for comparing these detainment camps to one of the most horrific events ever in history,” one student said.
“You can’t be throwing the word ‘concentration camps’ around all willy-nilly,” another student noted. Yet another student explained that her remarks “might make the people who would normally support her be a little bit annoyed.”
Others said that her comments were “a bit extreme,” and “a reach.”
But it didn’t stop there.
Jewish Groups Condemn AOC’s Comments
Several organizations took AOC to task for her insensitive statements. The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, which represents many Jewish organizations in the city, called out Ocasio-Cortez. Charles Temel, the president of the organization, argued that her video “diminishes the evil intent of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish people.”
Immigrant detention center
The group also offered to facilitate a visit to a concentration camp or local Holocaust museum to better understand what occurred in Nazi Germany. Good luck with that.
Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, also went after the representative, suggesting that she should be “censured by her colleagues,” and that “she doesn’t belong in Congress making decisions on behalf of her fellow American citizens.”
In his statement, Klein also debunked AOC’s lies about the border crisis: “The real story is that the U.S. government ran out of space and has to temporarily house minor teenagers who crossed illegally into the U.S. at an army base — something that former president Obama also did.”
It looks like this didn’t go the way Ocasio-Cortez had hoped. But no matter, you can be sure she will continue to insist that she’s right and everyone else is racist.
What does AOC have in store for us next week? Tune in to find out!
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