Skip to main content

Trending

  • Ukraine
  • Tucker Carlson
  • Elon Musk

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Utility Navigation

  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Media Matters for America

Main navigation

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Media Matters for America

  • Nav
  • Search

Main navigation

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Trending

  • Ukraine
  • Tucker Carlson
  • Elon Musk

Utility Navigation

  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
aoc-the-breakfast-club-trump-tweets-white-supremacist-threats-02-25-2020.jpg

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez says Fox News' and Trump's obsessions with her have led to white supremacist threats

Written by Eric Kleefeld

Published 02/26/20 3:58 PM EST

Share

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Print

Comment

  • Comments

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Tuesday that Fox News’ relentless coverage of her — and President Donald Trump’s resulting Twitter flames against her — have contributed to online threats against her safety.

During an appearance Tuesday on New York-based radio show The Breakfast Club, the hosts asked the representative about a Trump tweet from this past October, in which the president called her “a Wack Job!” (At the time, Ocasio-Cortez responded with a tweet of her own: “Better than being a criminal who betrays our country.”)

Ocasio-Cortez said she had not been surprised by Trump’s tweet: “I felt it coming, because a) He’s obsessed with television, and so he responds to things that he sees on television. And because I’m on Fox News, like, all the time, it felt like it was kind of a matter of time.

“But also, he doesn’t like attention not being on him. So if attention’s on anyone else — if it’s on Adam Schiff, it’s on Nancy Pelosi, if it’s on Colin Kaepernick, he’s going to try to find a way to reel that back into himself. … He’s a narcissist, but he is good at it.”

Video file

Citation From February 25, 2020, edition of iHeartRadio’s The Breakfast Club

Show co-host Charlamagne tha God responded: “I don’t know if I blame the media for that or him.”

“It’s both. It’s like an addictive, unhealthy relationship that they have,” Ocasio-Cortez answered. “They can’t stop covering him, and he can’t stop consuming it.”

“Isn’t that dangerous for you, though?” Charlamange added. “Like, being AOC, when you have the president calling you a wack job, people coming at you, isn’t that dangerous?

“It’s very dangerous. It’s very dangerous. Yeah, I mean, I had a point last year where I would wake up in the morning, and I’d look at pictures of people who were trying to harm me that day. Like, over my breakfast, you know? And it’s — and a lot of times, it was white supremacists. And it’s very real — like, it’s very, very real, and it’s very scary. And that’s why I think when people, like especially on the far right, they’re like, ‘Oh, this is an attention thing’ — it’s like, I am not doing this for my health.”

Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez has long been a subject of obsession over at Fox. Media Matters previously found that in a 42-day period in early 2019, Fox News and Fox Business mentioned the freshman lawmaker at least 3,181 times — variously describing her as a “totalitarian,” “ignorant,” and “scary,” and saying she was waging a “war on cows.”

Moreover, at Fox News’ corporate sister publication, the New York Post, reporter Jon Levine published 11 posts about the congresswoman just this past weekend alone, as part of a series called “The AOC Tapes,” focusing on such things as Ocasio-Cortez eating a sandwich, criticizing Fox News, and singing in the car during a road trip.

The Latest

  1. Alex Jones agrees with caller who suggests the Uvalde shooting was a false flag: “It's very suspicious timing”

    Video & Audio 05/25/22 3:54 PM EDT

  2. A Fox News employee defending gun manufacturers works for a gun manufacturer

    Article 05/25/22 3:13 PM EDT

  3. After Uvalde, Fox News invites “experts” to push controversial, counterproductive policies

    Article 05/25/22 3:13 PM EDT

  4. Fox News blames everything but guns for Uvalde massacre

    Research/Study 05/25/22 3:02 PM EDT

  5. Tim Pool claims school shootings are “exceedingly rare” and says that there is no way to stop them

    Video & Audio 05/25/22 2:51 PM EDT

Pagination

  • Current page 1
  • …
  • Next page ››

In This Article

  • Fox News

    Fox-News-MMFA-Tag.png
  • Donald Trump

    Donald-Trump-MMFA-Tag.png
Comments
0 Comments
Share Count
0 Shares

Related

  1. A Fox News employee defending gun manufacturers works for a gun manufacturer

    Article 05/25/22 3:13 PM EDT

  2. After Uvalde, Fox News invites “experts” to push controversial, counterproductive policies

    Article 05/25/22 3:13 PM EDT

  3. Fox News blames everything but guns for Uvalde massacre

    Research/Study 05/25/22 3:02 PM EDT

Media Matters for America

Footer menu

  • About
  • Contact
  • Corrections
  • Submissions
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2022 Media Matters for America