Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) pushed back at critics on Sunday, claiming that Republicans misinterpret her beliefs, comparing them to Dwight Schrute, a character on The Office.
“This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and ‘fact check’ it,” the New York lawmaker wrote on Twitter. “Like the ‘world ending in 12 years’ thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal. But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows.”
This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and “fact check” it.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 12, 2019
Like the “world ending in 12 years” thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal.
But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows. https://t.co/pmkwrdeAnq
The tweet came after Ocasio-Cortez said that wealthier Americans should be taxed more, claiming that being “THAT kind of rich is simply not good for society & it’s like 10 people.”
Cool, now I get it. 10 people will pay for the 93 trillion dollar green new deal.
— High Altitude (@dalelacc) May 12, 2019
But it is another part of her tweet that caused commotion, where the lawmaker pushed back at people taking her “world ending in 12 years” remarks literally.
Earlier this year, Ocasio-Cortez made the “12 years” comment speaking at the MLK Now event in New York.
“Millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?” she said.
"Millennials, and Gen z, and all these folks that come after us, are looking up and we're like 'the world will end in 12 years if we don't address climate change, and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?'" @AOC #MLKNow #MLK2019 pic.twitter.com/fbUxr2C0tJ
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) January 21, 2019
At the time, Ocasio-Cortez was expressing frustration with the politics surrounding climate change, using “12 years” as a point to make about the urgent need for legislation.
She responded to critics at the time of her remarks by tweeting out an article from the Guardian about a United Nations report that said major changes were needed within the next dozen years to avoid the rise of global temperatures to a point that could have major environmental impacts.
In the tweet, the lawmaker says the report shows that a “fix” was necessary in 12 years to avoid the global temperature rise. She also has a pinned tweet on her Twitter account where she wrote that we have “12 years left to cut emissions in half.”
A number of people accused the New York lawmaker of walking back on her “12 years” remarks in response to her tweet on Sunday.
Sounded pretty literal when you said it, with a straight face and to an audience who reacted by clapping. No one was laughing. https://t.co/hAD45HJyOH
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) May 13, 2019
Oh… so now the world ending in 12 years was just a joke? Mmhmm…ok…got it. https://t.co/ZSH9q5tGJ0
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) May 13, 2019
It appears the congresswoman is pushing back at the idea that she was beeing literal when said the world was going to “end” in 12 years, instead arguing that action was needed within 12 years to try and avoid the global temperature rise.
And people getting upset with her for that seem to be proving her point.
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