Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has faced a lot of unfair criticism. For the youngest woman in Congress, who ran on a progressive platform, people have taken every opportunity to diminish her because of her sex, age, politics, and experience. After she opened up about the difficulties of affording an apartment in Washington DC before her congressional salary kicked in, some brushed off her comments. One of those was journalist Eddie Scarry, who insinuated that the former bartender wasn’t struggling with money as she had previously stated.
In a now-deleted tweet, he wrote: “Hill staffer sent me this pic of Ocasio-Cortez they took just now. I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.” Alexandria, who is known for clapping back at her critics via Instagram, replied: “If I walked into Congress wearing a sack, they would laugh & take a picture of my backside. If I walk in with my best sale-rack clothes, they laugh & take a picture of my backside. Dark hates light – that’s why you tune it out. Shine bright & keep it pushing.”
Scarry explained he deleted the tweet, which he said only noted that she looked well put together, because of the way other interpreted it. But he spent part of Wednesday firing back at those who called him out for his unjust comments.
Alexandria then called him out for deleting the image without apologizing. She posted a screen shot of the image so that readers could know his biases as a journalist.
And while Alexandria has proved time and again that she can more than handle herself, people still came ready to ridicule Scarry for his sexist action. Check out a few of the best reactions below.