Ocasio-Cortez: Republican Party Is ‘Scared’ of Us ‘Because They Know How Powerful’ We Are

Ocasio-Cortez talked about her background as a waitress and told the moderator, Angela Rye, that she does not “shy away” from her background of working in restaurants because it prepared her for her current job as a congresswoman.

“Nothing will give you the ferocity of advocacy like having that kind of experience,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“No one can tell me about things like sexual harassment. No one can tell me things like working for tips on a wage that is less than the minimum wage. No one can tell me about taking the subway at 3 o’clock in the morning home from a night shift,” she said, claiming that “no one else has those experiences on the other side of the aisle.”

“Very few people have those experiences, and by the way, when they do, like John Boehner, they’re lauded for it. They’re like, ‘That’s a guy I could have a beer with,’ but with me, it’s like, so–” she continued with a gesture.

The freshman lawmaker added that the Republican Party is “scared” of the “Squad.”

“It’s because they’re scared because sometimes I think that the Republican Party recognizes our power more than we do sometimes,” she said.

“Tweet that,” Rye interrupted.

“Because there is a reason we are on Fox News 24/7 while every pundit – while they’re sending mailers with our face on it – because they know how powerful we are more than sometimes our own – frankly I think – our own party does,” she added.