Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday knocked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying he was a victim of “modern-day McCarthyism” after critics called him “Moscow Mitch” for blocking election security bills.
Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, tweeted: “Modern-day McCarthyism is poison for American democracy. It is shameful to imply that policy disagreements make the other side unpatriotic. The people who push such unhinged smears are doing Putin’s destabilizing work for him.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, responded: “McCarthyism is the practice of baselessly accusing political opponents of being communists as unjust grounds for targeting & harassment. You are blocking action to protect US elections despite official DoJ pleas. That doesn’t make you a communist. It just makes you a bad leader.”
In July, Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, told Fox News that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and her “squad” of congresswomen of color “are a bunch of communists.”
Mr. McConnell blocked a House bill that would have allocated $775 million to prevent Russian hacking on state election systems.
The senator called two journalists who labeled him as a “Russian asset” as “hyperventilating hacks,” leading to multiple versions of #MoscowMitch to trend on Twitter afterward.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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