Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday once again called on Sen. Ted Cruz to resign, while taking the Texan to task for his role in inciting the January 6 attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump on the U.S. Capitol that the congresswoman says nearly ended her life.
Her suggestion followed Democrats' call for a congressional investigation of Robinhood, the free securities trading app at the center of the GameStop controversy, and what Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called its 'decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.'
Minutes later, Cruz retweeted Ocasio-Cortez’s post, writing, “Fully agree.” Roughly an hour later, the congresswoman rejected the Republican senator’s display of support, writing, “I am.
'Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren't trying to get me killed.'
—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
As Common Dreamsreported earlier Thursday, the retail video game store GameStop 'is now at the center of an explosive fiasco on Wall Street in which major investment firms and hedge funds got taken to the cleaners by users of an online message board, namely the Reddit sub-page r/WallStreetBets, who mobilized collectively to drive up the company's stock price at a moment when many large, institutional investors had placed large bets for it to go down.'
Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted that he agreed with Ocasio-Cortez's assessment, but she rejected the fleeting display of bipartisanship in light of the events of January 6.
As Mother Jones' Inae Oh put it, 'After Ted Cruz attempted to get cute and show some rare agreement with the New York congresswoman by joining her criticism of the trading app Robinhood for blocking certain GameStop trades, Ocasio-Cortez promptly told Cruz to fuck off.'
Here's what it looked like:
I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out.
Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed.
In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign. https://t.co/4mVREbaqqm
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021
You haven’t even apologized for the serious physical + mental harm you contributed to from Capitol Police & custodial workers to your own fellow members of Congress.
In the meantime, you can get off my timeline & stop clout-chasing. Thanks.
Happy to work with other GOP on this.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021
That wasn't the end of it. After Cruz reportedly fumed about 'partisan rage and anger on the Democratic side,' Ocasio-Cortez shot back: 'Now why would there be anger that Cruz amplified known lies about our election that fueled an insurrection that cost [people's] lives? What does he think the logical response to his lies should be? A hug?'
“We need healing + unity, but I will not take any responsibility for my actions, nor will I acknowledge the contributions my lies made to the violence or the harm that it caused, nor do I believe anyone should be held accountable. But if you’re mad at that you’re divisive.” - GOP
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— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2021
Much proverbial popcorn was passed:
looking forward to Ted Cruz' op-ed about how AOC is censoring him by telling him to STFU https://t.co/ZFjlFIXApL
— Evan Greer (@evan_greer) January 28, 2021
It’s getting weirder and weirder.
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) January 28, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez described the seriousness of the events of January 6 in a poignant Instagram Live video earlier this month in which she called the Capitol attack 'a pretty traumatizing event.'
Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers were inside the Capitol and in the process of certifying the Electoral College vote for President Joe Biden when a massive mob, inflamed by Trump's lies and conspiracy theories about a 'stolen election' also spread by Cruz and other Republicans, overran the complex.
Five people died in the ensuing mayhem as lawmakers—including numerous maskless coronavirus-spreading Republicans and at least one GOP member who has menaced Squad members before—scrambled for the security of a safe room.
'I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die,' Ocasio-Cortez said in the video. 'I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive.'
Ocasio-Cortez subsequently called on Cruz, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and other GOP inciters to resign.
'Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday,' she tweeted on January 7, hours before United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died from injuries caused by the mob.
“Let's bring up a vote to expel Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley from the Senate.” -@AOCpic.twitter.com/rHvZgpGoHX
— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) January 22, 2021
Ocasio-Cortez has since repeated calls for Cruz, Hawley, and other insurrectionist Republicans to be expelled from Congress.
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The feud between New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, continues to play out on Twitter, with the latest blow coming from the left Thursday.
In an unusual attempt at unity, Cruz retweeted a message from Ocasio-Cortez regarding the latest development in the GameStop saga that has plagued Wall Street this week, creeping it’s way into Washington, D.C.
Ocasio-Cortez condemned the online trading platform Robinhood, after it restricted users on its app from trading GameStop shares, after the failing retailer saw an unprecedented uptick in its stock this week.
In an attempt to curb trading by small investors -- who some Wall Street veterans fear could destroy hedge funds -- Robinhood took steps to prevent its users from being able to trade freely and reversed the upward trend in GameStop stock value Thursday.
'This is unacceptable,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. 'We now need to know more about [Robinhood’s] decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.'
Cruz threw his support behind the Democrat, retweeting the message and simply stating, 'Fully agree.'
But instead of acknowledging the rare occasion the two congressional lawmakers could actually find themselves in agreement on an issue, Ocasio-Cortez rebuffed the senator’s support, diverting the conversation to the attack on the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
'I am happy to work with Republicans on this issue where there’s common ground, but you almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out,' Ocasio-Cortez shot back at Cruz.
'Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign,' she added.
The New York Democrat has held Cruz and other GOP lawmakers accountable for the breach on the U.S. Capitol after they propagated debunked allegations against the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.
The attack happened as lawmakers in the House and Senate separated to review and vote on the Electoral College results for states that some GOP lawmakers, including Cruz, objected to.
Videos that surfaced during and after the attack showed some of the pro-Trump supporters specifically targeting certain Democrats like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez.
The New York Democrat has repeatedly called for Cruz’s resignation from office.