New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez heartily criticized former Vice President Joe Biden and her own party in an interview published Monday.
Ocasio-Cortez told New York Magazine that Democrats are letting “anybody who the cat dragged in call themselves a progressive. There’s no standard.”
“In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America, we are.”
INDEPENDENCE, IA – JANUARY 03: Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, speaks during a campaign event on January 3, 2020 in Independence, Iowa. Biden spoke about foreign policy and domestic issues. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
The freshman congresswoman added that the Democrats have “too big of a tent” and that the party created this “problem” for itself.
“We’re not allowed to talk about anything wrong the Democratic Party does,” she explained. “I think I have created more room for dissent, and we’re learning to stretch our wings a little bit on the left.”
NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 14: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks during a Green New Deal For Public Housing Town Hall on December 14, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images)
Ocasio-Cortez specifically voiced frustration over “getting singled out over and over again” by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the Democratic leadership.
Pelosi has publicly feuded with Ocasio-Cortez and several other freshman Democratic congresswomen over the past year. When Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment in early 2019, Pelosi urged her and the squad to toe the party line. However, Ocasio-Cortez has expressed impeachment fatigue in recent weeks, even as House Democrats prepared to vote yay on articles of impeachment raised against Trump in the fall. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Thinks Democrats’ Trump-Impeachment Talk Is ‘Boring,’ Says She’s ‘Over It’)