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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for the retirement of an anonymous Democratic lawmaker who said the party is resigned to a victory by Donald Trump this November.
“We’ve all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency,” an unnamed senior House Democrat told Axios on Sunday, a day after the president survived as attempted assassination. Soon afterward, the progressive lawmaker from New York responded to the comment on X.
“If you’re a ‘senior Democrat’ that feels this way, you should absolutely retire and make space for true leadership that refuses to resign themselves to fascism,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
“This kind of leadership is functionally useless to the American people,” she continued. “Retire.”
The anonymous lawmaker’s comments came a day after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president at a Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was struck in the ear while one attendee died and another two were injured.
Representative Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat, said the nation’s focus should be on the shooting rather than the Joe Biden presidential campaign.
“It would be unpatriotic and unprincipled to direct energy to anything other than yesterday’s national tragedy over the coming days,” Phillips told Axios. “The only conversation about President Biden should be about how he can console our country, address the anger, and meet the moment.”
Ocasio-Cortez backed Biden last week as several Democrats called for him to step down as the presumptive nominee following a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Ever since, Biden has continued to affirm he will stay in the race.
“Joe Biden is our nominee, he is not leaving this race, he is in this race and I support him,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Tuesday. At least eighteen Democratic representatives and one senator have called on the 81-year-old to step aside.
