"He doesn't have another woman, Hillary Clinton or whoever else, to vilify anymore, so they need to find another woman to kind of prop up," Ocasio-Cortez said Friday of Trump

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Knows Why She's a 'Lightning Rod': Trump Needs Another Woman to 'Vilify,' She Says

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expected to become a “lightning rod” for conservatives, she told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Friday during a taped talk about her Green New Deal — an expansive legislative proposal to fight climate change and social inequality that’s controversial even among some of her fellow Democrats.

But, Ocasio-Cortez told Hayes, she didn’t anticipate this amount of anger.

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“[The criticism] is next level,” the 29-year-old democratic socialist from New York City told Hayes during their talk, which was recorded in her home borough of the Bronx.

Ocasio-Cortez, better known as “AOC,” did not seem fazed by the rancor, including from President Donald Trump‘s family and Fox News pundits. She dismissed it as so much hot air.

“I didn’t expect them to make total fools of themselves,” she told Hayes. “I expected a little more nuance.”

A young, female Latina lawmaker who is unabashedly progressive — to the left of most other members of Congress — Ocasio-Cortez has been a favorite target of the right. She was an unknown in 2017. Last month she was on the cover of TIME.

Some of the reproval is policy-based. But a lot of it is about her image, style and personality. And, like any politician with a fast-rising profile, her mistakes (big, small and insignificant) are seized upon.

Ocasio-Cortez is not shy about responding: in interviews, in Congress and on Twitter, where she has more than three million followers. According to one recent study, she commands a social media reach second only to Trump.

Most recently, on Monday, she exchanged antagonistic tweets with Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. (She previously swapped words with Ivanka Trump, a senior aide to the president.)

In her interview with Hayes, Ocasio-Cortez addressed the goals behind her proposed Green New Deal, which is supported by presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris.

“Historically speaking, we have mobilized our entire economy around war. But I thought to myself, It doesn’t have to be that way, especially when our greatest existential threat is climate change,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “So to get us out of this situation, to revamp our economy, to create dignified jobs for working Americans, to guarantee health care and elevate our educational opportunities and attainment, we will have to mobilize our entire economy around saving ourselves and taking care of this planet.”

Image zoom From left: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chris Hayes

Image zoom From left: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chris Hayes

It’s a big, bold plan — which means it has an uncertain future in Congress, where boldness and scope more often stoke controversy, not consensus.

On March 28, Donald Trump Jr., one of his father’s top surrogates, attacked Ocasio-Cortez and the proposal during his father’s campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to the Washington Post.

“Think about the fact that every mainstream, leading Democratic contender is taking the advice of a freshman congresswoman who three weeks ago didn’t know the three branches of government,” Don Jr. said. “I don’t know about you guys, but that’s pretty scary.”

When members in the crowd shouted “AOC sucks!” Don Jr. smiled, according to the Post.

“You guys, you’re not very nice,” he said. “And neither is what that policy would do to this country.”

Speaking with reporters at Friday’s taping, Ocasio-Cortez addressed the Trump rally chants.

“You know this is part of a pattern that the right and the far-right and, frankly, the president is consistent with,” she said. “He doesn’t have another woman, Hillary Clinton or whoever else, to vilify anymore, so they need to find another woman to kind of prop up and become a lightning rod.”

(Chants of “lock her up!” — referring to Clinton — have been staples of Trump rallies for years.)

At one point during the Friday taping, when an audience member called Republican Rep. Bob Ingliss a “moron,” Ocasio-Cortez was quick to shut down the heckler. “And that’s the difference between me and Trump,” she said.

Image zoom Donald Trump Jr. at a campaign rally in Michigan Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post via Getty

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Ocasio-Cortez pointed toward the invitation from a Republican colleague, Rep. Andy Barr, for her to visit coal mines in his home state of Kentucky. She said yes.

“To borrow from one of my colleague’s terms, ‘You can’t hate up close,’ ” she said on Friday. “And so that’s why I’m excited to not only come back home to my district but to take up Congressman Barr’s invitation to go to the coal mines in Kentucky, because I think that one of the ways that we can combat that is showing people that we’re fighting for them too.”

The freshman lawmaker isn’t afraid to take a divisive stance on issues — that’s part of the reason she ran, she explained.