A video has gone viral of progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (L) being heckled by two protesters (one of whom is pictured on the right) who said her decision to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia could lead to nuclear Armageddon.(Photos: Instagram (L) and Twitter (R))
Oct, 14, 2022 By Michael Dorgan
A video has gone viral of progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being heckled by two protesters who said her decision to support Ukraine’s war effort against Russia could lead to nuclear Armageddon.
The video, which has generated more than 7 million views on Twitter, shows two demonstrators yelling at Ocasio-Cortez for voting to send tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine to help finance its war efforts. They accused her of being a war hawk and said she initially ran for office as an anti-establishment outsider.
The incident took place Wednesday while Ocasio-Cortez was hosting a town hall meeting at a Bronx High School for residents of Congressional District 14, which also covers northwestern Queens.
Ocasio-Cortez was speaking at the forum to discuss legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act but was disrupted during the Q&A portion of the sparsely attended event.
“Congresswoman. None of this matters if there’s a nuclear war, which you voted to send arms and weapons to Ukraine,” the first protester shouted, according to a video posted on Twitter. The video was uploaded by one of the demonstrators.
The protester then invoked the name of Tulsi Gabbard, a former congressmember who ditched the Democratic Party earlier this week citing a number of reasons including the party’s support of the war.
“Tulsi Gabbard, she’s left the Democratic Party because they’re a bunch of war hawks,” the heckler continued.
“You ran as an outsider, yet you’ve been voting to start this war in Ukraine. You’re voting to start a third nuclear war with Russia and China. Why are you playing with the lives of American citizens?”
“You’re playing with our lives,” he shouts.
Some opponents of the war argue that Russian President Vladimir Putin might use tactical nuclear weapons if Russia looks like it will lose and face humiliation. They argue that the U.S. should be trying to seek a negotiated peace as opposed to supplying weaponry.
My friend @Noggatone and I confronted Congresswoman @AOC on her support for Nuclear War and Ukrainian Nazis. I call her out for being a coward in the face of the party that will push us all into Nuclear war right now. Will she stand up like @TulsiGabbard and fight for peace? pic.twitter.com/aQiQvQSWIN
— Jose Vega – Vote Diane Sare! (@JosBtrigga) October 13, 2022
One of the demonstrators heckling Ocasio-Cortez Wednesday (Photo: Twitter)
Another heckler then joins in and yells at Ocasio-Cortez, warning her of nuclear Armageddon unless she stands up to her party. The House, which is controlled by the Democrats, voted in favor of sending $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine in May and a further $12.3 billion to the war-torn country last month.
“There will be no neighbors if there is a nuclear bomb,” the protester says. “You voted to mobilize and send money to Ukrainian Nazis.”
The second protester then accuses Ocasio-Cortez of being part of the establishment and calls on her to stand up to the Democratic Party, like Gabbard.
“You’re a coward…I believed in you, and you became the very thing you sought to fight against,” the demonstrator can be heard saying.
“You are the reason everybody will end up in a nuclear war unless you choose to stand up right now and denounce the Democratic Party. Will you do that?”
He then has a back-and-forth with Ocasio-Cortez who accuses him of being rude.
The Queens Post reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for comment but has yet to receive a response.
The Congresswoman’s only public response to the incident appears to be via a tweet she sent to MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, who called the interaction “one of the dumbest things” he had ever seen.
“Screaming hysterically about opposing war while praising Tulsi Gabbard, avoiding any mention of Vladimir Putin, and blaming… AOC. Embarrassing,” Hasan wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to the tweet, writing that the pair had also yelled over a deaf constituent.
“The worst part (which of course they cut from the clip) is the fact that they were yelling over a **deaf constituent** asking a question, and continued to do so when it was made clear to them that they were yelling over a person with a disability,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez’s District 14 covers Astoria, College Point, Corona, North Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Woodside in Queens.
The worst part (which of course they cut from the clip) is the fact that they were yelling over a **deaf constituent** asking a question, and continued to do so when it was made clear to them that they were yelling over a person with a disability
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 13, 2022
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