US Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has caused a considerable stir on social media after she posted a series of tweets aimed at exposing “racist tropes”.
Her remarks came following a controversy related to Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar who last month criticised pro-Israel lobby groups’ influence in Washington, earning her the scorn of both US President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Commenting on a tweet about Rep. Steve Scalise suggesting that Omar should not be getting intelligence briefings, Ocasio-Cortez inquired why, “if we’re so concerned about implied tropes”, no concern was seemingly exhibited over 26 Democrats voting “for a GOP amendment to expand ICE powers rooted in the racist + false trope that Latino immigrants are more dangerous than US born citizens”.
She further insisted that the entire premise of Donald Trump’s wall along the border with Mexico “is a racist + non-evidence based trope that immigrants are dangerous”, and lamented the willingness of some Democrats to compromise “because we’ve accepted some kinds of racism as realpolitik in America”.
But while Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “none of this is whataboutism”, not everyone seemed to be convinced by her reasoning.
A number of people also seemed unamused by the congresswoman’s assessment of the “GOP amendment” she mentioned.