Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Skewers Her Twitter Trolls: The Memes are “So Weak”

The “Notorious AOC” is in the building. On Thursday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stopped by the premiere of Showtime’s Desus & Mero, where she discussed everything from her proposed 70 percent wealth tax to her Bronx upbringing. Ocasio-Cortez spoke openly about every topic thrown at her, but the undoubted highlight of the interview came when she was asked about her Twitter trolls, who consistently come at her with “weak” memes. Despite her trolls’ “Windows ’95”-level meme skills, the congresswoman insisted that she doesn’t hate the backlash, as it’s “validation that you’re doing something real” and attempting to make a difference.

Desus noted that after the show tweeted its Ocasio-Cortez promo, they received backlash from the same “Twitter trolls and the Russian bots” that harass the congresswoman. “When that kind of stuff happens, do you regret getting into politics?” he asked. “No. I mean, it’s heavy, but in a weird way, that stuff is validation that you’re doing something real,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “Because if you’re just flying under the radar trying to get your check, not rock the boat, then what’s the point of being in politics? What’s the point of doing things if you’re just trying to maintain a status quo that doesn’t help people?”

“Do you ever look at the timeline and be like, ‘Boy, these memes are weak,'” asked Desus. “So weak!” replied Ocasio-Cortez. Mero added that the memes “are all made in MS Paint,” and the congresswoman agreed. “It’s like, how do you have a computer that runs both Windows ’95 and Twitter at the same time?” she asked, earning her big laughs from the hosts.

Ocasio-Cortez went on to explain that the memes about “cow farts” are related to her Green New Deal, which states that “we need to take a look at factory faming” and how it’s harming the environment. “It’s not to say you get rid of agriculture. It’s not to say we’re going to force everybody to go vegan, or anything crazy like that,” she said. “But it’s to say, listen, we’ve got to address factory farming. Maybe we shouldn’t be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner … What we need to realize is that climate change is about every choice that we make in our lives.”

Watch Ocasio-Cortez skewer her haters in the clip above. You can stream the entire episode for free on YouTube, or on Showtime.

Watch Desus & Mero Season 1 Episode 1 "Ballbags" on Showtime