Incoming Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at Donald Trump Jr., tweeting a veiled legal threat after a meme he posted rehashing a tired trope about socialism was published in the Washington Post.

The firefight began when the president's son posted an image meme mocking Ocasio-Cortez and dismissing socialism as a system doomed to end in dining on dogs, adding his sage observations: "It's funny cuz it's true." Ocasio-Cortez appeared to take the dig – and the WaPo's signal-boost – personally, escalating rapidly on Twitter.

I have noticed that Junior here has a habit of posting nonsense about me whenever the Mueller investigation heats up.Please, keep it coming Jr - it's definitely a "very, very large brain" idea to troll a member of a body that will have subpoena power in a month.Have fun! https://t.co/oQ6MsdJYCk — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) December 7, 2018

Implying that the younger Trump's post was merely a false show of bravado to distract from the ongoing special counsel investigation of his father, she seemed to threaten further legal troubles for the family, boasting of her "subpoena power" and implying he had picked the wrong person to troll.

The House prohibition on the very kind of threat that @Ocasio2018 just made to @DonaldTrumpJr couldn't be clearer: lawmakers are "prohibited from threatening punitive action" against people/groups for not politically supporting the lawmaker. Ethics Committee should investigate. pic.twitter.com/NNIPp1vsyv — Sean Davis (@seanmdav) December 7, 2018

After Twitter cried foul over the "threat," reminding the freshman Congresswoman that wielding Congressional powers to intimidate one's enemies into silence is an ethics violation, if not entirely illegal, Ocasio-Cortez backpedaled, explaining she did not mean she personally wielded the subpoena power.

For the GOP crying that this is a "threat" - I don't have power to subpoena anybody.Congress as a body, GOP included, has the power. No indiv. member can issue a subpoena unless they are a Chair (which, as a freshman, I can assure you I will not be). Also must be under purview. — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) December 7, 2018

Her detractors demanded to know which authority figure had forced her to "apologize," and even some would-be supporters cringed, but others doubled down on their support.

I see someone coached you between your original statement and your new one. Sadly, I’ve dealt with New Yorkers most of my life when you come up and destroy or states. Another wind bag with an IQ around Velcro. — Don Delpha (@don_delpha) December 8, 2018

You said something, then almost immediately afterwards, you pretended that you didn’t say what you just said. This is exactly what Donnie and Jr. both do. If you want to roast them, don’t act like them...it’s disingenuous. — Randy Ray (@randyrayzer) December 8, 2018

Let them cry,who cares,that's the only thing they're good for! You just keep standing up for the people who sent you to be their voice. Remember they voted for a man who couldn't give a damn about them. — terjaj (@terjaj) December 8, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez was elected to shake things up in the Democratic Party and has been gathering support for her "Green New Deal" in the House, impressing long-time environmental activists at a climate change roundtable last week with her vision for addressing both environmental and economic justice.