While hard-line Republicans have pushed back against progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over their Green New Deal resolution, the New York Democrat has found herself an unlikely new ally: a supporter of President Donald Trump.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Ocasio-Cortez said she saw a man and his teenage son putting up a sign outside of her office that read, “Trump supporters for Ocasio-Cortez.”
The sign left the congresswoman “pretty astonished,” she said in a series of tweets describing her encounter with the two.
When Ocasio-Cortez asked the father how he managed “to support both of us at the same time,” she said he replied: “I’ve been saying for years that climate change is our most important crisis. You’re one of the only ones who’s been willing to be decisive on it.”
“I like you. I can tell that you are genuine and fighting for us. You’re real and you get it,” the representative recalled the man as saying.
Crafted by progressive Democrats and championed by Ocasio-Cortez, the Green New Deal is a resolution that outlines a wide-reaching plan to zero out greenhouse gas emissions and generate millions of jobs in clean energy fields.
The plan homes in on overhauling the transportation sector, which plays a key factor in climate pollution, creating a sustainable food system that guarantees “universal access” to healthful food and clean water, and tackles economic inequality and racial injustice.
Republicans have challenged the viability of the climate change resolution. Earlier this month, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) dismissed the plan as “literally impossible” and said the Democrats who crafted it lacked life experience.
In a sarcastic tweet in February, Trump called the resolution “brilliant” and incorrectly stated that it would “eliminate all Planes, Cars, Cows, Oil, Gas & the Military.”
The president went on to mock Ocasio-Cortez last month during a Republican fundraiser as “a young bartender,” according to Politico.
Ocasio-Cortez used her interaction with her newfound supporters on Friday to look past Republicans’ attempts to discredit her and her aggressive fight against climate change.
She also used the moment to highlight the progressive movement in light of former Vice President Joe Biden’s plans as a 2020 presidential candidate for a decidedly more conservative climate policy.
“All of this is to say don’t let any politician, no matter the party, lecture you about what is ‘possible’ or ‘electable,’” she tweeted.
“If you don’t understand this man’s sign – or don’t approach it with a desire to – then you do not understand this political moment,” Ocasio-Cortez continued.
“The same folks who said Trump was impossible in 2016 are the same ones lecturing on what’s ‘electable’ in 2020,” she said. “Don’t buy it. Vote your values.”
Representatives of Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
Read the rest of the congresswoman’s Twitter thread below:
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