Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed Sunday that people who believe the suggestion that the world will end in 12 years have the intelligence of a “sea sponge,” even though Ocasio-Cortez made that very claim in January.
Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Republicans too often mischaracterize her dry humor and “fact check” her jokes, claiming that they take them too literally. One of her alleged jokes includes a January claim that the world will end in 12 years if we do not address climate change, comparing it to a modern World War II-style struggle.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez said:
Minnesota fraud scandal intensifies debate over stripping citizenship
The economic policies shaping Trump’s return to the White House
Where people got their entertainment in 2025
Europe struggles to keep pace as US cracks the whip on defensive self-reliance
It’s the prices, stupid: The big challenge that lies ahead for Trump and the GOP
Here are the key 2026 House and Senate races to watch that could decide control of Congress
Trump says US will intervene if Iran starts killing protesters: ‘Locked and loaded’
Is a Korean reality show the last honest sport?
SBA suspends nearly 7,000 Minnesota borrowers over suspected $400M pandemic loan fraud
The Trump administration’s unfinished business in Gaza
The Force adrift
Hours after taking office, NYC Mayor Mamdani targets landlords, moves to intervene in private bankruptcy case
Numbers Don’t Lie: CNN, MSNBC Ratings Flip Upside Down from Trump’s First Term to Trump 2.0
Happy New Year: Pentagon Ends 2025 with a Bang, Hits Narco-Terrorists Whose Drugs Will Not Kill Americans This Year
Historic Amsterdam Church Burns as ‘Unprecedented’ New Year’s Eve Violence Grips the City
This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and “fact check” it.
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
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 12, 2019
“I think that the part of it that is generational is that millennials and Gen-Z and all these folks that come after us are looking up and we’re like, ‘The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change,’ and your biggest issue is–your biggest issue is, ‘How are we going to pay for it?’” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And, like, this is the war; this is our World War II.”
