Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called out US President Donald Trump, and her male colleagues in the House and the Senate, for belittling women by using their nicknames or abbreviations rather than their official titles.
In the last few minutes of Thursday night’s final presidential debate, Trump lamented the “radical left” with reference to Ocasio-Cortez and her work on the Green New Deal. “They know nothing about the climate,” he said, “I mean she’s got a good line of stuff but she knows nothing about the climate, and they’re all hopping through hoops for AOC plus three. Not a real plan, it costs $100 trillion.”
Ocazio-Cortez immediately hit back on Twitter saying: “It’s actually AOC plus 115 because that’s how many House and Senate members have cosponsored the most ambitious climate legislation in American histor.y. The following morning, she made a further post calling out Republicans on their treatment of women: “I wonder if Republicans understand how much they advertise their disrespect of women in debates when they consistently call women members of Congress by nicknames or first names while using titles and last names when referring to men of = stature. Women notice. It conveys a lot,” she said.
Referring specifically to her own nickname, she added: “AOC is a name given to me by community and the people. Y’all can call me AOC. Government colleagues referring to each other in a public or professional context (AKA who don’t know me like that) should refer to their peers as ‘Congresswoman’, ‘Representative,’ etc. Basic respect 101.”
Ocasio-Cortez has officially backed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for the 2020 election, despite being critical of several of his policies, and is confident the country’s youth will make the right decision come November 3. “They are not here with the intent of voting for their favourite person or voting for someone that they think is perfect as president,” she said. “I think young people are actually quite disciplined, and quite realistic and pragmatic in their vote.”