You could say that whenever Riley Gaines tried to make waves, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hit her back with a cannonball dive.
Over the weekend, Gaines, a former U.S. NCAA swimmer turned MAGA influencer, sparked an online spat with the New York lawmaker and was left treading water — twice.
The kerfuffle began when Gaines shared a photo of Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on X, and suggested in her caption that America was being “destroyed from within” by the trio.
Ocasio-Cortez blew her out of the water with the following response, “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth.”
The remark refers to a 200-yard swimming freestyle race in 2022, in which Gaines tied for fifth place with Lia Thomas, a trans athlete. Ever since tying with Thomas, Gaines has very loudly rallied against trans women’s participation in sports, making her a right-wing darling.
Seemingly not backing down after Ocasio-Cortez’s jab about her coming in fifth place, Gaines took the opportunity on Fox News Monday to up the ante.
“Here’s what I will say — I want to honestly challenge AOC to a debate,” Gaines said. “She can defend socialism; I will defend capitalism. She can defend removing God; I will defend embracing a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice; I will defend the sanctity of life.”
Gaines continued, “Any of the radical, insane Democratic policies and platform that they stand for, I will debate the opposite. I’m challenging AOC to it here.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham said with a chuckle, “I thought you were going to challenge her to like a freestyle ― a 100-freestyle or something.”
Ocasio-Cortez seemed to find the potential of a debate with Gaines laughable as well.
“And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job,” AOC posted on X, retweeting Gaines’ Fox News appearance.
Left-leaning X users loved Ocasio-Cortez’s savage comebacks.
“I have a real job. I’m a mom,” Gaines wrote on X in response to AOC’s second clap back. “It’s the most important & rewarding job in the world. I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you’d understand my positions a little better.”
However, Gaines’ snipe likely didn’t do what she thought it would, as AOC didn’t appear to respond further on X about the issue.
But other users on the social media platform were happy to share their retorts.