Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rips GOP for taking ‘world ending in 12 years’ prediction literally

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez on Sunday took a shot at Republicans for interpreting her climate change doomsday predictions literally.

The New York socialist Democrat, who co-authored the controversial Green New Deal, made headlines in January after she claimed that the “world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change,” and compared the challenge to World War II. Several Democrats have parroted that claim, including 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. The Associated Press threw cold water on the talking point in March, saying there is “no scientific consensus” to support it.

On Sunday, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez took issue with Republicans for taking her statement seriously.

“This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and ‘fact check’ it,” she tweeted. “Like the ‘world ending in 12 years’ thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal. But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s comment was prompted by Twitter users taking another statement of her’s literally, in which she tweeted that the immoral rich Americans who deserved to be taxed the most only included “like 10 people.”

“US GDP is at an all-time high. As a nation, we are more prosperous than we ever have been,” she wrote. “But that’s simply not the lived truth. Even now, I’m paid similar to a doctor or corporate lawyer - many who’d think they are ‘rich,’ but it’s nowhere near what we actually mean in policy.

“When we say ‘tax the rich,’ we mean nesting-doll yacht rich. For-profit prison rich. Betsy DeVos, student-loan-shark rich,” she continued. “Trick-the-country-into-war rich. Subsidizing-workforce-w-food-stamps rich. Because THAT kind of rich is simply not good for society, it’s like 10 people.”

Critics seized on the lawmaker’s “like 10 people” comment, prompting her to lash out at Republicans and compare them to the gullible character Dwight Schrute from “The Office.”