It is rare to see a progressive get primetime cable news airtime. It is even more rare to see arguably the top two progressives in the United States get hours of cable news primetime airtime, but that is what happened when CNN hosted Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a town hall.
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Collins asked Ocasio-Cortez about the Republican claims that Chuck Schumer is supporting the government shutdown to avoid a Senate primary challenge from AOC.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez answered:
It speaks to how desperate they are. They are saying this because. They are refusing to do their job. They’re grasping for straws. They’re trying to make this about political tabloids and political intrigue and horse races.
The kinds of things that people are sick of in this country. Mm-hmm. We’re sick of it. We are sick of talking about these horse races and we’re sick of, of leaders who only want to spend their time talking about that instead of talking about real issues that affect our lives, instead of talking about healthcare, instead of talking about wages, instead of talking about having air that’s breathable. And water. And water that’s drinkable and it’s it. It is honestly astonishing to me that the Speaker of the House would waste his time on something so inane and silly instead of actually worrying about his own constituents who are suffering at the hands of his leadership.
Collins, of course, then asked about the horse race, “But are you saying that Senator Schumer should not be worried about a primary challenge from you?”
Read and watch how Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez handled Collins below.