Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a firm rebuttal to Elon Musk during their latest online clash, after the SpaceX boss said that she was “not that smart”.
The New York Democrat, known informally as AOC, reminded the billionaire entrepreneur of her background and her credentials as the youngest woman in American history to be elected to the US Congress.
The pair are known for their online sparring, which usually takes place on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which is owned by Mr Musk.
Their latest interaction came on Wednesday, after Mr Musk replied to an X user’s comment on a prior post by Ms Ocasio-Cortez, in which she appeared to comment on the looming Rebublican-led shutdown of the government.
In response to a video of the young Democrat, Mr Musk wrote: “She’s just not that smart”.
Replying to Mr Musk, Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote: “I wasn’t born rich and became the youngest woman in American history to be elected to Congress.
“Then I investigated Cohen, authored the largest FEMA funeral assistance program in history and led the creation of a US Climate Corps to create tens of thousands of new jobs. Stay mad.”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez has previously warned Mr Musk was “testing the waters” to possibly interfere in the 2024 election.
She also said that she was looking to trade in her own Tesla vehicle, in favour of a union-made electric vehicle (EV), amid a major strike by the United Auto Workers – who were recently joined on the picket line in Michigan by President Joe Biden.
The congresswoman said she bought her Tesla during the pandemic to commute between her New York City district and Washington DC, but that there were now vehicles manufactured by unions that have the required range for the journey.
“We’re actually looking into trading in our car now. So we’re looking into it and hopefully we will soon,” she told CBS.
Tesla chief Mr Musk is also a vocal opponent of unions.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez has also challenged several of Mr Musk’s decisions with regard to X, saying that the removal of blue ticks could pave the way for “more potential harm”.
She has previously claimed Mr Musk had meddled with her account. Ms Ocasio-Cortez complained that following a public argument, her Twitter account had seemingly stopped working properly.
