On Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke at a fundraising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Like many of his GOP colleagues, he had someone forefront in his mind: freshman Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
"The Green New Deal, done by a young bartender, 29 years old."
The President added:
"A young bartender, wonderful young woman. The Green New Deal. The first time I heard it I said, 'That’s the craziest thing.' You have senators that are professionals that you guys know that have been there for a long time ... and they’re standing behind her shaking. They’re petrified of her."
While the President's words about Ocasio-Cortez were not particularly derogatory, they were dismissive.
Watch his remarks here.
On Wednesday the Democrat for New York's 14th congressional district had the chance to respond. Representative Ocasio-Cortez said:
"[The] last guy who underestimated me lost. That’s all I gotta say about that."
Much of the Republican rhetoric and that of the Trump camp focuses on the freshman Representatives former job. However little is said of her education.
Ocasio-Cortez graduated cum laude from Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences with a dual major in international relations and economics. In addition to a job as an educational director in her Bronx home neighborhood, she took a second job tending bar and waitressing to help her mother.
It is this second job that Republicans disparage.
The President's latest attack on Ocasio-Cortez did not gain much support outside of his core followers. Instead, people are contrasting the histories of the two parties.
Many pointed out Trump's success was assured by his father without any extraordinary efforts by the President himself.
And people pointed out working class jobs are nothing to be ashamed of, or shamed for by rich people who inherited their wealth.
And some even sent messages directly to President Trump on his Twitter feed.
On her way to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez challenged and defeated 10-term incumbent Representative Joe Crowley in the primaries. In the 2018 midterms, she defeated her Republican challenger Anthony Pappas with 78 percent of the vote.
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