Tuesday on MSNBC’s “All In,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared President Donald Trump wanted “to just make sure that kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance.”
Host Chris Hayes said, “There are some people I have seen who have the following theory of why Senate Democrats have not cut a deal where they give eight votes and move along. That is that Chuck Schumer is worried about a primary challenge from you and is worried about the politics to his left flank. And so, because of that, worry about a primary challenge, he’s going to shut down the government, ergo, it is AOC’s fault that the government is shutting down or that you’re somehow the fulcrum of this. And I want to ask you straight up: Are you planning to primary challenge him? Do you think that’s why he’s doing this?”
Ocasio-Cortez said, “This is so not about me in this moment. This is about people being able to insure their children. I will say, because I saw some senators speculating about this, and I saw some Republican members of Congress saying, oh, well, if we have this shutdown, it’s because of AOC, well, if that’s the case, my office is open, and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly. Because what I’m not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans, because Donald Trump decided one day that he wants to just make sure that kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance. That’s what’s not going to happen. So if those senators think that we’re having a shutdown because of me, they’re free to enter my office and negotiate, because what we’re not going to do is allow all of millions of people in this country to not be able to afford their insulin and chemotherapy. So come stick a deal with me.”
Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN
