Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez offered a swift rejection to colleague Ted Yoho’s “apology” stemming from his part in a confrontation that took place earlier this week. On Monday, the two reps got into a heated exchange on the steps of the Capitol in which The Hill reported that Yoho told Ocasio-Cortez, “you are out of your freaking mind” before calling her a “fucking bitch.”
The degrading words came after Ocasio-Cortez suggested that crime in New York was up due to unemployment amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yoho balked at the assertion, calling her out of her name in the process.
On Wednesday, Yoho began his remarks on the House floor by acknowledging “the strife I injected into the already contentious Congress.” He claimed the abrupt manner of the conversation he had with Ocasio-Cortez was unnecessary but then denied he called the Congresswoman from New York what he had been heard saying. He furthered his apology by inserting his wife and daughters into the narrative, suggesting his love for them speaks to a prioritized respect for women.
Yoho continued his mea culpa by sharing how he and his wife were once on food stamps but essentially pulled themselves up by the bootstraps. “I can not apologize for my passion, or for loving my God, my family and my country” he said before yielding back.
On Twitter Ocasio-Cortez reacted by writing, “Republican responds to calling a colleague “disgusting” & a “f—ing b*tch” w/ “I cannot apologize for my passion” and blaming others. I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this [is] an apology, and what they should learn to accept. Yoho is refusing responsibility.”
Republican responds to calling a colleague “disgusting” & a “f—ing b*tch” w/ “I cannot apologize for my passion” and blaming others.I will not teach my nieces and young people watching that this an apology, and what they should learn to accept.Yoho is refusing responsibility. https://t.co/BKzJa7KUBW
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 22, 2020 Alexandria Ocasio Cortez reacts to Rep. Ted Yoho’s half-baked apology in a Twitter post.
On Thursday, Rep. Ilhan Omar, a close associate of Ocasio-Cortez and a fellow member of “The Squad” weighed in on the debacle, telling Hysteria podcast host Erin Ryan, “I think it’s their threatened masculinity and their inability to really deal with women who have opinions, who understand their position and power, who not only speak for themselves, but who [also] speak for marginalized communities and those that have been an afterthought in our systems.”
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 15: U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speaks as reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA),Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) listen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks on the four progressive Democratic congresswomen, saying that if they’re not happy in the U.S. “they can leave.” (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
Omar summed it up by saying Yoho, and the colleagues who behave like him, are simply triggered by women like Ocasio-Cortez’s ability to get things done.
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