Eddie Scarry, who writes for the conservative outlet Washington Examiner, received a digital earful Thursday after posting a picture of Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and commenting, “that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.”

Hill staffer sent me this pic of Ocasio-Cortez they took just now. I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles. pic.twitter.com/oaLpy5aXlt — Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) November 15, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez has been notably transparent about her financial situation, telling the New York Times last week that the transition to her new job will be “very unusual, because I can’t really take a salary. I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment?”

Scarry defended his post to TPM Thursday.

“I know what it’s like to be a poor intern in D.C., and I can tell you — and I’m a male, obviously — but you tend to not look like that,” he told TPM over the phone. “She looks very well put together, looks very nice.”

Scarry, who pointed out that he is gay and that he wasn’t “catcalling” Ocasio-Cortez, referenced the congresswoman-elect’s claim that she’d been mistaken for an intern and said: “I find that a little bit strange, when I look at this particular photo, the way she’s put together.”

“Just looking at the picture and knowing the things she has said in public about herself, about being mistaken for an intern, I saw it and just thought, this does not look like someone who has experienced that,” he added later.

“That’s only a matter of my observation,” Scarry said. “It just didn’t seem to jibe quite right.”

TPM asked about some of Scarry’s old writing, highlighted in a New York Observer article, which involved taking pictures of anonymous people’s butts and commenting on them. Scarry said it was part of a running joke at his old job, writing for FishbowlDC, based on a former colleague, Betsy Rothstein, who made fun of Kim Kardashian’s butt after Greta van Susteren brought Kardashian to the White House correspondent’s dinner. “She made fun of her butt because Kim Kardashian makes fun of her own ass,” Scarry said.

“We would just make fun of seeing butts that were out in public at different events where there was a lot of media coverage,” Scarry said, noting that people in the photos were not named.

Asked if he’d taken anything away from getting “ratio’d,” as it’s known, Scarry said: “What I’ve learned is that the Twitter mob lives on no matter what you say.”

Twitterers did not take kindly to Scarry’s jab on the viral congresswoman-elect.

Ocasio-Cortez claims to be middle class but she owns [squints] clotheshttps://t.co/c10OJ8ffSL — Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) November 15, 2018

*faux British tea time voice* how DARE the working class procure clothing for the winter months, what is this, bolshevism?? https://t.co/fUrFJxJVIv — Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) November 15, 2018

what is wrong with you dude https://t.co/k8KJN89Bp0 — Katherine Krueger (@kath_krueger) November 15, 2018

very curious how she speaks of struggling to afford an apartment in dc while also living rent-free in so many people's heads https://t.co/N8shpdRzqd — Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) November 15, 2018

Scarry was unrepentant:

Seems to be a mistaken belief that I took this photo. Which is weird given that I said it was sent to me. https://t.co/zbpKMkMNry — Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) November 15, 2018

LOL yes those are the only alternatives to something I didn’t suggest. I’m either walking among idiots or liars. I hope the former. https://t.co/9r2VqvHZUF — Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) November 15, 2018

Yes, the only alternative to this attire is a burlap sack, for someone who claims she needs 100K^ to afford an apartment https://t.co/eVjemk5h9r — Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) November 15, 2018

That’s the only place I shop, so maybe it’s YOU who hasn’t been to one. https://t.co/4ahtzTEg7W — Eddie Scarry (@eScarry) November 15, 2018

This post has been updated.