Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has strong thoughts on President Donald Trump’s leadership, and she isn’t holding back.
Affordable health care was the topic of discussion during a CNN town hall meeting. A video posted Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, shows an audience member asking Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) why Democrats don’t let Republicans suffer for the consequences of their actions as premiums begin to rise.
Sanders was the first to respond, stating that Trump was “dividing” the country. Ocasio-Cortez then offered her own perspective in agreement.
“I think it also speaks to a big difference between someone like Trump and someone like me or someone like Bernie, which is that Trump believes that if you don’t vote for him, he doesn’t have to be your leader,” AOC remarked. “That if you didn’t vote for him, that you don’t deserve good things to happen to you.”
She went on to emphasize that she represents all constituents, regardless of political affiliation or voting history.
“I don’t care if someone voted for me or not,” she said. “I don’t care if someone is a Republican or an independent or a Democrat. I don’t care if someone likes me or not.”
She continued, adding that none of that changes her commitment to ensuring constituents have access to proper health benefits — even those aligned with the Make America Great Again coalition.
“He doesn’t want people who are Democrats, or he doesn’t want people based on their political affiliation, to benefit,” AOC said. “And that is the difference between a strongman and an authoritarian, and a leader of a democracy.”
On Oct. 1, a deadlock between Republicans and Democrats over health care issues led to a shutdown of the federal government. Trump said that it could actually be beneficial.
“We’re doing well as a country, so the last thing we want to do is shut it down. But a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things,” he said. “But they want open borders, they want men playing in women’s sports, they want transgender for everybody. They never stop. And they don’t learn. We won an election in a landslide. They just don’t learn. So we have no choice. I have to do that for the country.”