Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash after revealing she's in therapy after Capitol riot: 'Drama queen'
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew the ire of conservatives online after revealing on Friday, May 21, that she was in therapy following the "extraordinarily traumatizing" January 6 Capitol riot.
Speaking to the public radio show Latino USA, the New York congresswoman said she was learning how to "slow down" after the attack, which resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer and an air force veteran.
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"After the 6th, I took some time and it was really [Rep] Ayanna Pressley when I explained to her what happened to me, like the day of, because I ran to her office and she was like, 'you need to recognize trauma'," Ocasio-Cortez reportedly said, according to The Independent.
She added, "I feel like I learned this the hard way after my father had passed away when I was a teenager. That happened at a young age and I locked it away. You have to live with it for years." Speaking about getting the help she needed, she said: "Oh yeah, I'm doing therapy but also I've just slowed down. I think the Trump administration had a lot of us, especially Latino communities, in a very reactive mode."
Conservatives on social media, however, mocked Ocasio-Cortez, with some saying she deserved "no sympathy.'
"Omg. @AOC was nuts well before Jan 6, 2021. Her Green New Deal idea showed how nutzo she is. She said the earth will perish in 12 years. This drama queen is your typical snowflake. New Yorkers should be embarrassed. What happened to NY strong?" Ex-Sheriff David Clarke Jr. tweeted.
"She needs therapy alright. Lots and lots of therapy," one Twitter user wrote.
"And yet she chose not to support funding to prosecute the assailants, nor protect from future attacks. So tired of her whining for fundraising dollars while not doing a damn thing in office," another added.
"Why is this news? I assume she's seeing a dentist too," a third chimed in.
"Stop giving her air. Or sympathy. She voted against the Capitol Police who put their lives on the line to protect her. No sympathy," another wrote.
And yet she chose not to support funding to prosecute the assailants, nor protect from future attacks.
— Democrats in Array (@BernieVetting) May 24, 2021
So tired of her whining for fundraising dollars while not doing a damn thing in office.
Stop giving her air. Or sympathy. She voted against the Capitol Police who put their lives on the line to protect her. No sympathy.
— Frog Legs 🐸 (@100FrogLegs) May 24, 2021
The left-wing firebrand previously claimed she was hiding in the bathroom with a staffer when a mob of violent protesters broke into the Capitol building, adding that many were chanting her name.
"I thought I was going to die," she said during an Instagram live session in February. "I have never been quieter in my entire life." In her interview with Latino USA, she said members of Congress had effectively "served in war" by being present at the Capitol complex. She also said the event also "impacted the actual legislative process" in Congress, per NBC News.
Critics, however, have cast doubt on the New York congresswoman's version of events. Many claimed she was not in the Capitol Building during the attack and that her office was too far from the melee for her to have been scared for her life. Freshman congresswoman and far-right conspiracy theorist Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Ocasio-Cortez of having "faked her outrage with another hoax." At least 490 people have been charged in connection to the January 6 riot thus far.