Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently won a major primary against incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, has been riding on the wave of success. But when conservative host of Newsmax’s America Talks Live, John Cardillo, posted a picture of Ocasio-Cortez’s childhood home in an attempt to undermine her credibility, she clapped back with a simple message for her critic: try Google.
Ocasio-Cortez, who spent the early years of her life in the Bronx, ran her campaign on the message that she knows what those that live in the Bronx or Queens have to deal with. Her parents worked hard to ensure that Ocasio-Cortez and her brother had better educational opportunities, and moved their family from the Bronx to Yorktown, a middle-income neighborhood outside of New York City, The New York Times reports. But while growing up, Ocasio-Cortez witnessed her parents struggle with rent hikes, stagnant income and minimal healthcare.
But even though all of this information about Ocasio-Cortez’s life is featured on her campaign website, Cardillo tweeted a photo of her childhood home and implied that Ocasio-Cortez had been misrepresenting her background.
“This is the Yorktown Heights (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League Brown University. A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling,” Cardillo tweeted.
This is the Yorktown Heights (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in before going off to Ivy League Brown University.
A far cry from the Bronx hood upbringing she’s selling. pic.twitter.com/xyOtZzVJII
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 1, 2018
But Ocasio-Cortez clapped back and told her critic that she, in fact, did not attend Brown University, but Boston University in Massachusetts, where she earned degrees in economics and international relations.
Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Cardillo “try Google.”
Hey John,
1. I didn’t go to Brown or the Ivy League. I went to BU. Try Google.
2. It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people. My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 1, 2018
The congressional candidate added that her mother “scrubbed toilets” so her family could afford to live in Yorktown.
She clapped back once more, writing, “Your attempt to strip me of my family, my story, my home, and my identity is exemplary of how scared you are of the power of all four of those things.”
3. Your attempt to strip me of my family, my story, my home, and my identity is exemplary of how scared you are of the power of all four of those things.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) July 1, 2018
According to Hello Giggles, Cardillo later admitted he was wrong about Ocasio-Cortez attending Brown University, but still said she’s not a “girl from the Bronx.”
Earlier version of this story misidentified your alma mater as Brown @Ocasio2018.
I stand corrected.
That said, you’re not a “girl from the Bronx.”https://t.co/6H5VR9G3P0 https://t.co/NCIg4ildzF
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 1, 2018
This isn’t the first time that Ocasio-Cortez has called out her critics. According to CNN, the congressional candidate tweeted a picture of her first pair of campaign shoes on Friday, showing the holes on the bottoms, arguing she had won the primary because she worked hard, not because of “demographic reasons.”
Some folks are saying I won for “demographic” reasons.
1st of all, that’s false. We won w/voters of all kinds.
2nd, here’s my 1st pair of campaign shoes. I knocked doors until rainwater came through my soles.
Respect the hustle. We won bc we out-worked the competition. Period. pic.twitter.com/RbpQMYTiWY
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) June 29, 2018
“Respect the hustle,” she wrote.