By Editor,Jon Michael Raasch

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Progressive star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tore into Charlie Kirk during a speech on Capitol Hill after Congress voted to honor the late conservative activist.

The House passed a resolution to honor Kirk and his legacy on Friday. It received broad bipartisan support, passing 310 – 58, with Democratic leadership voting for it.

AOC, along with other ‘Squad’ members, Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., voted against the measure.

After the vote, her firebrand instincts came into sharp view when she decided to skewer Kirk in a speech on the House floor just nine days after he was brutally murdered in broad daylight.

‘Charlie Kirk’s assassination was a horrific and vile attack,’ the lawmaker began, before adding, ‘We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was… His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.’

AOC also said that Congress must stop ‘the government’s attempt to weaponize this moment into an all-out assault on free speech … All in the name of Charlie Kirk.’

Immediately after her remarks, conservatives scorched the young Democrat, foreshadowing the deep polarization an AOC White House candidacy would unleash.

‘AOC is trashing Charlie Kirk right now on the House floor,’ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. ‘She is lying about him and again repeating the same vile garbage at the same time …There is no way forward with these people.’

The progressive’s attack against the late 31-year-old’s legacy came just hours after it was reported that AOC and her advisors are setting the groundwork for her to become president, according to a new report.

The 35-year-old New York Democrat will be old enough to run for either Senate or the White House in 2028, and some advisors are positioning her so that she can choose whichever office suits her, Axios reported Friday.

The young and gregarious Green New Deal champion and former bartender has rocketed to the upper echelons of the political conversation since joining the House in 2019.

Her massive social media following, progressive rhetoric and working-class roots puts her at odds with more traditional and older Democrats.

AOC has become adept at eloquently livestreaming her political musings on Instagram and engaging tens of thousands at sold-out arena rallies, the latter of which are eerily similar to President Donald Trump’s major MAGA events.

As her party searches for a winning message in the political desert after losing the White House to President Donald Trump, the appetite among Democrats for a new path is emerging.

The success of New York mayoral candidate and Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, whom AOC endorsed this summer, has shown early signs that the left is ready to veer towards more progressive and socialist lanes.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the longtime leader of his state and party, may be in for a contentious generational battle should AOC decide to challenge him in 2028, but that’s only if she doesn’t have bigger fish to fry.

AOC appears to be the heir apparent to the Democratic Party’s progressive arm, which appears to be growing.

This year, she has campaigned across the country with America’s foremost Democratic Socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on the pair’s ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour.

The campaign-style events regularly brought in thousands of attendees at stops in Colorado, Arizona, California and Nevada. One April event in Los Angeles had 36,000 attendees.

The prediction site Kalshi currently has AOC as the second most likely candidate behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom to become the Democrats’ presidential nominee.

Some insiders are saying that she may even run against Newsom to give the progressive wing of the party a voice in the 2028 presidential primaries, Axios reports.

Her grassroots support is massive in comparison to many other political operations – as evidenced by her staggeringly large social media following, which, if you combine most major platforms like Instagram, TikTok, X and Bluesky and Facebook, is close to 37 million.

The progressive has also focused on state-level politics and held events around New York far from her congressional district in the Bronx.

At an event in Plattsburgh, N.Y., over the summer, she stated ‘We are here because every town, every city, every neighborhood in this state matters. Every corner matters. No one deserves to be ignored.’

AOC has also become a special target for Trump on social media, where he will make digs at the lawmaker’s intellect and policy ideas.

‘Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the “dumbest” people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before,’ Trump posted on social media over the summer.

The progressive has leaned into online skirmishes with the president, which has only served to elevate her further on the national stage.

‘Mr. President, don’t take your anger out on me – I’m just a silly girl,’ the Democrat responded at the time.

Still, despite her efforts to appeal to a wider audience, AOC has a bad track record with conservatives over her support for universal healthcare, the Green New Deal and other progressive agenda items.

Ocasio-Cortez’s office did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.