Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has the Best Comebacks on Twitter

If you haven't yet heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you soon will. The 28-year-old powerhouse is running for congresswoman in New York’s 14th District. O already won her primary on June 26, and now she's fighting to unseat longtime incumbent Joe Crowley.

A Latina from the Bronx, as well as a former Bernie Sanders organizer, Ocasio-Cortez self-describes as a “Democratic socialist.” When pressed about this identifier, Ocasio-Cortez explained to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show: “I believe that in a modern, moral, and wealthy society, no person in America should be too poor to live.”

Basically, Ocasio-Cortez is a force to be reckoned with. Since her political rise plunged her into the public eye, however, a few Twitter-centric spats and bumps have sprung up; commentators and conservative politicians alike have attempted to undermine her popularity.

And here's how she responded.

July 1

Conservative TV host John Cardillo tweeted a Google Street View picture of Ocasio-Cortez’s childhood home, claiming that it is a “far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling.” He wrote, as a description of the picture, that “this is the Yorktown Heights (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League Brown University.”

Cardillo’s choice to share images of a congressional candidate’s childhood home on Twitter speaks volumes about the political climate we exist in—and how it exists, at least partially, on social media. Ocasio-Cortez belittled his Tweet with her own.

July 21

Florida Representative Ron DeSantis, Republican, referred to Ocasio-Cortez in a speech as “this girl... or whatever she is." He then proceeded to undermine her campaign and general intelligence: “She’s in a totally different universe… It’s basically socialism wrapped in ignorance.”

Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter in response, wielding a few choice words about what, exactly, she is.

Nydia M. Velázquez, incumbent congresswoman of New York’s 7th District, came quickly in defense of Ocasio-Cortez. Girl power.

July 24

Conservative Review TV (CRTV) spliced Ocasio-Cortez’s PBS interview with Margaret Hoover with fake questions from a CRTV “interviewer.” Ocasio-Cortez responded, per usual, with a fantastic Tweet. “Here’s one bonafide truth,” she writes. “Election day is November 6th.”

Shane Goldmacher, chief political correspondent of the New York Times Metro Desk, also responded to the video on Twitter.

Flashback to July 10: Ocasio-Cortez won the primary in her neighboring 15th District, that day, too, in a write-in campaign.

She’s not even running in that district.