AOC Fires Back at ‘Outright Disrespectful’ Pelosi for ‘Explicit Singling Out of Newly-Elected Women of Color’

The ongoing strains between the House Democrats’ newest, most progressive members and the party’s senior leadership came into view once again, as outspoken Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly fired back at a not-so-subtle dressing down she and her left-wing colleagues received from Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “It got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful.”

According to a new Washington Post article, Ocasio-Cortez and three of her House allies, Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) increasingly feel isolated by the party caucus leaders. This was again the case on Wednesday when Pelosi warned her fellow Democrats, in a closed-door meeting, not to criticize their Congressional colleagues in public.

“You got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just okay,” Pelosi reportedly told her caucus.

Though the Speaker didn’t single out anyone by name in that meeting, Ocasio-Cortez said the implication of who she was directing her comments toward was clear. It was interpreted as yet another slight from the Speaker toward “the Squad,” as Pelosi has reportedly taken to calling the four Congresswomen. Last week, Pelosi more openly dismissed them in a New York Times column by Maureen Dowd, where she was quoted joking about the “public whatever” and “Twitter world” of the four Congresswomen, calling them merely “four votes.”

Ocasio-Cortez has clearly had enough.

“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” AOC told the Post. “But the persistent singling out . . . it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful . . . the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color.”

After an early honeymoon period between the freshman Congressman and the 16-term Speaker, the pair’s relationship has since gone completely sour, the Post reports.

“Now, half a year later, virtually all communication between the two women has ceased. The two have not spoken one-on-one since February when Ocasio-Cortez declined Pelosi’s personal request that she join her select committee on climate change, according to individuals who know both lawmakers.”

This personal divide represents a microcosm of a larger fight within the party, where a new generation of Democrats are pushing the party to adopt more progressive policies and embrace political fights with the right, while the existing establishment counsels more compromise positions to hold together a larger caucus and cautions against a rush to impeach President Donald Trump.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.