Ever since her shocking primary win in New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an avowed Democratic Socialist, has become an object of fascination by the right.
She’s been attacked on primetime news, mocked on Twitter, and taken down in op-eds. Now, conservatives are documenting her IRL—and in the promise becoming memes.
The Daily Caller published a piece recently called “I’m a conservative and I went to an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Rally,” where reporter Virginia Kruta went to an Ocasio-Cortex rally and saw something “truly terrifying.”
What was that?
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I saw how easy it would be, as a parent, to accept the idea that my children deserve healthcare and education.
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I saw how easy it would be, as someone who has struggled to make ends meet, to accept the idea that a “living wage” was a human right.
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Above all, I saw how easy it would be to accept the notion that it was the government’s job to make sure that those things were provided.
Truly terrifying, the government educating its youngest citizens. Kruta watched as people got excited about these proposals and concluded by thanking “God,” for giving her the “grace” to not fall under that spell.
But it wasn’t until Kruta went to Fox News to talk about her experience where the memes happened after a reporter flagged the video.
Fox & Friends had Daily Caller editor @VAKruta on to discuss the fear she felt attending @Ocasio2018 rally.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2018
"They talk about things everybody wants, especially if you're a parent. They talk about education for your kids, health care… it was really uncomfortable." #BeyondParody pic.twitter.com/BULE0KFuPJ
People thought her alarmist attitude was funny.
Can we get @VAKruta nominated right now for every single journalism award on the planet? Oh my word, the trauma this poor woman endured!
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) July 24, 2018
No one shouted to kick the crap out of her, or hurled obscenities at her. No one called her scum. The horror! She must be traumatized. https://t.co/qHe2oKpm25
https://twitter.com/BillCorbett/status/1021754646069760005
does Fox know that they're unwittingly creating commercials for socialism https://t.co/rc0YojIjdi
— Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) July 24, 2018
I've watched this three times already and it gets funnier with each viewing https://t.co/qFsyOA1fT1
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 24, 2018
lmao. Are they for real.
— Imani Gandy (Orca’s Version) ⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) July 24, 2018
“Education?! Health care?! What’s next? THE PURGE?!” https://t.co/WF7G2LZJHb
Even Ocasio Cortez tweeted about it.
Breaking News: Conservative goes to our @CoriBush rally in St. Louis and… gets inspired? And then… gets uncomfortable… about being inspired by a Democrat? 😂 https://t.co/PrOzylu95y
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 24, 2018
Kruta responded by saying her response wasn’t fully quoted in the tweet, which is true.
Her concern mentioned in the video was that people got excited about it, but weren’t paying attention to how it would be paid for. But wanting a more equitable distribution of wealth by taxing the rich is likely why these people went to a rally held by a—wait for it—socialist.
Then again, it’s not the first time a conservative has accidentally aired an ad for Ocasio-Cortez while trying to take her down.