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MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell on Tuesday championed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for hitting the political opposition where it hurts — by making “insecure men” like White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller feel “small.”
O’Donnell noted on “The Last Word” how activists Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, who led the anti-war Yippies movement of the 1960s and 1970s, used theatricality and humor to flout the judge who oversaw their 1969 trial on charges of inciting a riot with their protests.
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He then reflected on the hippie culture behind their movement and pointed to the historic image of a “flower child” protester placing a flower into the barrel of a U.S. soldier’s rifle during 1967’s Pentagon demonstration against the Vietnam War.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saw none of that, she was born 14 years after the last American military soldiers … were killed in Vietnam,” O’Donnell said Tuesday. “But she has had an idea that the Yippies and the flower children would like: ‘Laugh at them. Make them small.’”
Ocasio-Cortez certainly held nothing back Sunday when she insulted Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Trump border czar Tom Homan and Vice President JD Vance — who has blamed the ongoing government shutdown on Democrats like her.
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“I am using clean language on this [Instagram] Live,” she said in a video. “But this guy [Homan] is a joke. Kristi Noem is a joke. JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, went behind a podium and went, ‘Boo hoo hoo! The shutdown is AOC’s fault!’”
The government shutdown began last week amid a tense standoff between Republicans and Democrats over whether to extend health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans. At the time, Vance openly blamed the “Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic Party” for the shutdown.
“Laugh at them,” Ocasio-Cortez urged her viewers Sunday. “Make them small.”
“These people do this in order to make themselves feel powerful, because deep, deep, deep down inside, they feel and know how small they are,” she continued. “And in order for a small person to feel big, they have to crush someone else.”
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The most viral portion of her unbridled rant concerned Miller, who argued Monday that President Donald Trump has plenary authority — or the powers of a king. Ocasio-Cortez unleashed on him Sunday.
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“Stephen Miller is a clown,” she said. “I’ve never seen that guy in real life, but he looks like he’s like 4′10″ and he looks like he is angry about the fact that he’s 4′10″. And he looks like he is so mad that he is 4′10″, that he’s taking that anger out at any other population possible.”
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The lawmaker went on to clarify that she isn’t mocking anyone’s physical stature, but is criticizing how “insecure men” like Miller appear to “overcompensate.” He was ultimately forced to watch her video during a defensive Fox News interview Monday.
“This is about insecure masculinity,” Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday. “And one of the best ways that you can dismantle a movement of insecure men is by making fun of them.”