Ocasio-Cortez: I Give ‘Zero’ F–ks About Criticism from Democrats

Appearing on CBS’s Late Show with host Stephen Colbert on Monday evening, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said she gives “zero” fucks about the pushback she has received from challenging establishment Democrats.

A partial transcript is as follows:

COLBERT: For you and some other freshman members of Congress, you’re getting a fair amount of push back, privately and publicly from more established members of even your own party, saying, wait your turn, you know, go slow. Don’t ask for so much, so fast, right now. You’re new, wait your turn for everything and don’t make waves. Now, I want to ask this question in a respectful manner, knowing also that you’re from Queens, so you’ll understand this question —

REP. OCASIO-CORTEZ: And the BX [Bronx].

COLBERT: On a scale from zero to some, how many fucks do you give?

REP. OCASIO-CORTEZ: I think it’s, uh, zero. 

COLBERT: That’s my thought. So what do you say to the people who say we need party unity and we can’t have you meeting with the people who are occupying Pelosi’s office because that shows a divided front for the Democrats that the opposition party can take advantage of?

REP. OCASIO-CORTEZ: It’s how we choose to interpret items and how we choose to interpret events and things like activism and advocacy. If you think activism is inherently divisive – I mean, today is Martin Luther King Day. And, people called Martin Luther King divisive in his time. We forget he was wildly unpopular when he was advocating for the Civil Rights Act. I think that what we need to really realize is that social movements are the moral compass and should be the moral compass for our politics.