(Headline USA) Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., blasted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., this week for suggesting he was a bully after he mocked her cat-fight with other representatives during a recent hearing.
Ocasio–Cortez was involved in a spat with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during a House Oversight Committee hearing over whether Attorney General Merrick Garland should be held in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena.
Fetterman mocked the viral interaction as being worse than the Jerry Springer Show, the notorious 1990s-era talkshow known for its onstage brawls and trashy behavior.
In the past, I’ve described the U.S. House as The Jerry Springer Show.
Today, I’m apologizing to The Jerry Springer Show. pic.twitter.com/y6wxLX5FIV
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) May 17, 2024
Ocasio–Cortez shot back, saying, “I stand up to bullies, instead of becoming one. I understand you likely would not have stood up for your colleague and seem to be confused about racism and misogyny being a ‘both sides’ issue.”
Fetterman called Ocasio–Cortez’s comment “absurd” when asked about on CNN’s State of the Union over the weekend.
“I was just simply responding to the kind of chaos and everything that Rep. Greene started as well,” he said.
“And if everyone on the committee was proud of what they‘ve produced, they are entitled to their opinion,” he continued. “Or if they feel that this is the kind of a video that you want to send to a classroom of 8th grade civics kind of students across America, that’s their choice.”
The episode notoriously culminated with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, calling Greene a “bleach blonde bad built butch body.”
She has doubled down on the remark since then, continuing to use bombastic, race-baiting rhetoric while maintaining she is “smarter” than her MAGA counterparts.
Fetterman has been increasingly at odds with the left flank of the Democratic Party, even going so far as to separate himself from the “progressive” label earlier this year.
“I’m not a progressive,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told NBC News. “I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things.”
Fetterman specifically cited immigration and the U.S.’s support of Israel as issues that he has broken with the Left on.
“With Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that. And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well,” he explained.
