Florida Congressman Dismisses Ocasio-Cortez As 'This Girl...Or Whatever She Is'

Ocasio-Cortez speaking at Black Lives Matter rally last year

For the latest in News You Can Grind Your Teeth To, we turn to Florida, where a Trump-approved, right-wing congressman resorted to dismissive, sexist terms in belittling a woman running for office, possibly grabbing himself more national headlines than at any other moment in his political career.

A "manchild threatened by woman's success" narrative may help explain U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis's behavior at an Orange Park, Florida campaign event on Saturday. DeSantis offered up a pointedly dismissive characterization of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an adult woman 11 years his junior whose stunning upset in New York's congressional primary recently captured the attention of progressives nationwide.

Here's what DeSantis had to say about it:

"Look at this girl, Ocasio-Cortez or whatever she is, I mean she's in a totally different universe, it's basically socialism wrapped in ignorance," DeSantis said, to the chortling crowd's apparent amusement.

Just look at this boy, DeSantis or whatever he is. Whatever is he? A Fox News mouthpiece with "few tangible accomplishments" to his political legacy? An occasional Airforce One passenger doing his damndest to keep the Russian investigation from moving forward? Just your average hyper-conservative, "know-it-all" gubernatorial candidate looking to bring more guns to his state? Whatever he is, this boy's in a totally different universe.

DeSantis with the president or whatever he is.(Courtesy website of Ron DeSantis)

For those who somehow missed it, 28-year-old Ocasio-Cortez bested longterm Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in New York's June primary. Crowley represented the 14th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Queens and the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez's native borough. The young Democratic Socialist crowdfunded the bulk of her campaign and famously wore holes in her shoes knocking on doors and canvassing the district. Crowley, meanwhile, rested on his laurels.

After hearing these strange remarks by the bewildered Florida boy or whatever he is, Ocasio-Cortez sought to clear up any confusion.

She has a point: The majority of Florida's formidable Puerto Rican population is expected to vote Democratic in the midterms, although DeSantis has described the state's Puerto Rican community en masse as "natural Republicans." Other Florida Republicans disagree, and perhaps for that reason, would bar Puerto Ricans from the polls.

In any case, the main thrust of DeSantis's comments had to do with Ocasio-Cortez's recent remarks on Palestine: In an interview with PBS, the candidate described Israelis as occupiers of Palestinian land. She later retracted the statement, explaining that she's no "expert on geopolitics." Still, DeSantis seized on the soundbite.

"Wait a minute, you're saying that one of our best allies is occupying a country? There's never been a Palestinian state," he told his supporters. "You're just repeating these canned, left-wing talking points, and you're somehow the savior of the Democratic party? She is, I think, a symptom of some of the problems that we have, of really laying that foundation. She has no clue what she's talking about, she doesn't understand the principles of the constitution, hers is just spout this talking point or that."

After Ocasio-Cortez tweeted her rebuke, DeSantis replied. "My problem is not with your identity but with your unhinged socialist views," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for DeSantis—who is running for governor of Florida with Trump's endorsement—told HuffPost that the candidate was simply suggesting that learning about the Constitution might “prevent more socialists like Ocasio-Cortez calling for ‘free’ everything.” The spokesman would not say why DeSantis called Ocasio-Cortez “this girl.”

DeSantis, of course, is not the first man to underestimate the 28-year-old: Crowley dismissed Ocasio-Cortez, too. Look how well that turned out for him. DeSantis, whose most likely Democratic opponent is a woman named Gwen Graham, might want to keep that lesson in mind.