Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezHouse passes bill to avert shutdown Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' The Memo: Dems face balancing act on SCOTUS fight MORE (D-N.Y.) lashed out at Sen. John Cornyn John CornynThe Hill's Campaign Report: GOP set to ask SCOTUS to limit mail-in voting Liberal super PAC launches ads targeting vulnerable GOP senators over SCOTUS fight Senate GOP faces pivotal moment on pick for Supreme Court MORE (R-Texas) on Tuesday for quoting Benito Mussolini in a tweet.

Ocasio-Cortez criticized the former Senate GOP whip for linking fascism to socialism with the tweet, saying it was part and parcel for a party that she said called paying a living wage "socialism."

"In case you missed it, while the GOP is calling paying a living wage 'socialism,' a Republican Senator full-on quoted National Fascist Party leader and Hitler ally Benito Mussolini like it’s a Hallmark card," the first-year lawmaker tweeted.

In case you missed it, while the GOP is calling paying a living wage “socialism,” a Republican Senator full-on quoted National Fascist Party leader and Hitler ally Benito Mussolini like it’s a Hallmark card.



⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/aJmdsPYrkG — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 25, 2019

Cornyn on Sunday had tweeted a quotation from the Italian fascist dictator.

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“We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.”

“We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become.” Benito Mussolini — Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 24, 2019

Cornyn's tweet provoked some head-scratching online, but he responded that one reader had correctly interpreted the tweet as a warning against an overly powerful central government.

You nailed it, Bud. Since so-called Democratic Socialists have forgotten or never learned the lessons of history, and how their ideology is incompatible with freedom, I guess we have to remind or teach them. https://t.co/ftzal1DMED — Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 24, 2019

Cornyn in another tweet said he may have overestimated the "intelligence" of people on Twitter with his original tweet.

Did I over estimate the intelligence of some in the twitter sphere? https://t.co/Cf8nUY3NUO — Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 25, 2019

On Monday, Coryn added further context, noting that the quote appeared in Austrian political philosopher Friedrich Hayek's book "The Road to Serfdom."

Hayek's 1944 book is a criticism of state-run planned economies, and he argues that those systems inevitably devolve into tyranny and fascism.

Perceptions of socialism are shifting in America. A poll from August of last year showed Democrats have more positive perceptions of socialism than of capitalism.

That change has been reflected in the growing number of elected officials who self-identify as some form of socialist, including Ocasio-Cortez and 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Bernie Sanders warns of 'nightmare scenario' if Trump refuses election results Harris joins women's voter mobilization event also featuring Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda MORE (I-Vt.).

Republicans have ratcheted up their attacks on the ideology recently, specifically using the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela as a launching point for broader criticisms of socialism.

In a speech later in the month about Venezuela, Trump said that "socialism is dying" across the Western Hemisphere and blamed the ideology for the collapsing economy in the South American nation.