Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained Sunday that GOP fact-checkers were taking her “dry humor” literally.

“This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and ‘fact check’ it,” she tweeted. “Like the ‘world ending in 12 years’ thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal. But the GOP is basically Dwight from ‘The Office’ so who knows.”

This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and “fact check” it. Like the “world ending in 12 years” thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal. But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows. https://t.co/pmkwrdeAnq — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 12, 2019

And when Ocasio-Cortez first made the claim, she certainly appeared to be playing up the absurdity of the statement for effect.

.@AOC on millennials and social media: “We’re, like, the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change” pic.twitter.com/HjhbVyfFN4 — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 22, 2019

But those responsible for the 2018 UN report on climate change — from which Ocasio-Cortez drew her “12 years left” conclusion — did not consider their work to be an attempt at “dry humor.”

And during a live stream in April, Ocasio-Cortez mocked critics who blew off the claim as a joke, making it clear that she was serious when she said, “We have 12 years left to cut emissions by at least 50%, if not more, and for everyone who wants to make a joke about that, you may laugh, but your grandkids will not.”

She went on to compare those who ignore climate change with those who sat on the sidelines during the Civil Rights movement. “So just know that while a lot of people can hide that their grandparents did that in the civil rights movement, you should also know that the internet documents everything,” Ocasio-Cortez warned. “And your grandchildren will not be able to hide the fact that you fought against acknowledging and taking bold action against climate change.”

She concluded by saying once more that it was not a joke. “And for those of you who are trying to mock and delay this moment, I mean, I just feel bad for you. I pity you for your role in history right now,” she said. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal Is So Urgent That She’s Mad The GOP Wants To Vote On It)

The tweet pinned to the top of Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter profile, posted just two weeks later, again cites the 12-year deadline along with a video showing how the world could progress if people would only heed such warnings and take them seriously.

Climate change is here + we’ve got a deadline: 12 years left to cut emissions in half. A #GreenNewDeal is our plan for a world and a future worth fighting for. How did we get here?

What is at stake?

And where are we going? Please watch & share widely ⬇️pic.twitter.com/IMCtS86VXG — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 17, 2019

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