New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized billionaire Elon Musk after the owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, insulted her intelligence over her comparison of the current migrant crisis to Ellis Island.
The dispute began when AOC posted a video on her Instagram account in which she compared the ongoing migrant crisis to the influx of immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island over a century ago. In the video, she noted that over "12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954" and emphasized the daily numbers seen during that time.
In her post, she mentioned the successful week she had in Washington, which included securing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for migrants, "which will allow many immigrants to work." She said this is good for her constituents in New York because it will "ease [the] strain on shelter systems."
You can see her video below.
Not long afterward, the Congresswoman's video attracted the attention of conservative commentator Ashley St. Clair, who employed the recent "girl math" meme to criticize her for making the comparison.
St. Clair said that there is no comparison between the migrant crisis and Ellis Island because the country is not equipped to handle "3 million undocumented migrants pouring through our border" and costing New York City "$1,000,000,000 to house migrants for free in hotels."
You can see her post below.
Musk—who has a history of mocking Ocasio-Cortez—soon responded to St. Clair's message by insulting Ocasio-Cortez's intelligence, saying she's "not very smart."
You can see his post below.
Ocasio-Cortez immediately shut Musk down by noting just a few of her major accomplishments:
"I wasn’t born rich and became the youngest woman in American history to be elected to Congress."
"Then I investigated [former Trump attorney Michael Cohen], authored the largest FEMA funeral assistance program in history and led creation of a U.S. Climate Corps to create tens of thousands of new jobs."
"Stay mad."
You can see her post below.
Musk's response opened him up to criticism from the online community.
Ocasio-Cortez has previously taken aim at Musk over the platform's handling of hate speech.
Over the summer, she responded to a report from Twitter Safety claiming that over 99 percent of the content users and advertisers see on the platform is "healthy," and that hate speech represents only a tiny fraction of the overall conversation.
The Congresswoman said X users "now pay to give their harassment more visibility" and questioned the platform's viability given that the "de-verification of journalists, civic orgs, and figures has made it impossible to follow conversations."
She has similarly blasted the platform for suspending journalists and accused Musk of promoting an account that was openly impersonating her.
@simuliu/X
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
@Tim_Walz/X
