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New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participated in an MSNBC town hall on Friday evening. The Congresswoman discussed her Green New Deal proposal and, of course, climate change more broadly. After an audience member (and assumably, Ocasio-Cortez fan) used a select word, however, things took an unexpected turn.
Here’s how this went down. First, while participants in the hour-long town hall discussed the Green New Deal bill, former Rep. Bob Inglis clarified that he did not believe the Green New Deal could be done within two years. This isn’t too surprising, coming from Inglis.
You might remember the former representative as the Republican from South Carolina who lost his seat because of (arguably, among other things) his belief in climate change. This is what he said on Friday evening that got audience members pretty riled up—he was met with literal boos.
"I worry that what we do is if we have basically the mirror image of a Trump rally on climate change that we drive all the people away that could come our way and solve this thing now," Inglis explained,” alluding to the idea that having a progressive or left-leaning event (such as the one he was currently participating in) might scare off moderates or conservatives.
“You can't do it in a single congress —the entire Green New Deal. It is literally impossible," he added. (As a reminder, a “single congress” is two years.)
He went on to ask a wrap-up question, basically suggesting that climate change should come first, then issues like healthcare could come later. (Obviously, he’s selectively ignoring a lot of overlap in these subjects.)
His exact words: “Is it possible that we say, climate change … we’ve got to act now? Can we come back maybe to universal basic income a little bit later?”
The Democrat from New York was about to reply when an audience member, among the boos, shouted out that Inglis was a “moron.”
In what can only be reminiscent of being disciplined by your favorite teacher, Ocasio-Cortez stopped, pointed in the direction of that audience member, and said, "Hey! Hey! Hey! That's unacceptable.” She added, "And that's the difference between me and Trump,” when turning back to face Inglis.
Here is the clip:
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about it, too:
It’s also worth noting that “moron” is an ableist slur, with a long and disgusting history of being used against people with disabilities.
Here’s the longer cut of her talk on MSNBC:
Given that Trump is president, it’s no surprise people are getting used to throwing around insults during debates and policy discussions. Do you think people are getting a little too comfortable tossing around “debasing” language? Or is policing language just another way to derail discussions?