Originally published at: KID GLOVES? Bernie Sanders Says Pelosi Acting ‘Too Tough’ on Ocasio-Cortez | Sean Hannity
Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders weighed-in Sunday on the new tensions between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the progressive wing of her own party; saying the top Democrat was acting “too tough” on Rep. Ocasio-Cortez.
“Alexandria and the other women’s desire to bring more people, especially young people, working class people, into the Democratic Party,” said Sanders.
“I think a little bit,” he added when asked if the Speaker was acting “too tough.”
“You cannot ignore the young people of this country who are passionate about economic and racial and social and environmental justice. You’ve got to bring them in, not alienate them,” Sanders told NBC’s Meet the Press.
EXCLUSIVE: Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says Speaker Pelosi is being a 'little bit' too tough on AOC #MTP #IfItsSunday@BernieSanders: "You cannot ignore the young people of this country … you gotta bring them in, not alienate them." pic.twitter.com/PW7GIp1buL
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 14, 2019
President Trump slammed “disgraceful” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from the White House lawn last week; saying the freshman congresswoman should show “respect” to “somebody who has been there a long time.”
Trump defends Pelosi: AOC should treat her with "respect" pic.twitter.com/xwGcHeFblX
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 12, 2019
“Well I think Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody who’s been there a long time. I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot, we go back and forth, and it’s fine. I think that a group of people are being very disrespectful to her,” said the President.
“I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on… Cortez should treat Nancy Pelosi with respect, she should not be doing what she’s doing. I’ll tell you something about Nancy Pelosi: She’s not a racist. For them to call her a racist is a disgrace,” added Trump.
The escalating tension between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party took a dramatic turn last week; with Rep. Ocasio-Cortez accusing the leader of “singling out women of color.”
“When these comments first started, I kind of thought that she was keeping the progressive flank at more of an arm’s distance in order to protect more moderate members, which I understood,” Ocasio-Cortez told the Washington Post.
“But the persistent singling out … it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful … the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color,” she added.
Pelosi has routinely dismissed far-left proposals such as the Green New Deal or moving forward on impeaching President Trump.
“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said earlier this week. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
“You got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just OK,” Pelosi told the liberal lawmakers during a closed-door meeting at the US Capitol.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw weighed-in on the growing controversy Thursday, writing “Madam Speaker, welcome to the true nature of identity politics – where you’re accused of being racist for no reason at all, and where intellectually lazy insults are used against you as a way to replace substantive debate of your argument or idea.”
