“Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) used one of her increasingly rare town halls to do something entirely predictable —slam President Trump, brand him an “authoritarian” and urge anyone within earshot to defy and boycott his administration’s moves.
“Authoritarians rely on the perception of power,” the socialist lawmaker at a virtual Town Hall held Thursday night for her constituents in Queens and the Bronx.
“They need people to believe they’re more powerful than they actually are… Donald Trump is less popular than he has ever been,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
“In order to mask that reality, Donald Trump is trying to take control of the media, using extortion style tactics,” she slammed. “We all saw what happened with Jimmy Kimmel, we all saw earlier this year what CBS did with Stephen Colbert….These are exercises in power.”
ABC’s suspension of comedian Jimmy Kimmel over false comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination came hours after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr warned the network “we can do this the easy or the hard way.”
“The Trump administration… rely on everyone complying in advance out of fear…. we cannot be scared of this administration,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
She credited threats to boycott Disney for Kimmel’s return to the airwaves.
“People started to say, if you comply with authoritarianism, we are going to vote with our pocketbook,” she said. “Those boycotts changed the course.”
The White House defended the suspension, saying Kimmel was pulled because of low ratings.
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