News

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Clapped Back At Critics Of Her College Dance Video By Busting A Move

by Lara Walsh
Win McNamee/Getty Images News/Getty Images

It's no secret that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been fielding near-constant criticism since her surprise defeat of New York Democrat Joe Crowley in June's primary election. Instead of targeting her policies or political views, however, a number of trolls have been focused on critiquing and discrediting the 29-year-old progressive based on her shoes, her clothes, and yes, a dancing video from her college days that has gone viral since it was shared on Wednesday, Jan. 2. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's response to her college dance video is taking those meme-worthy dance moves to Congress — and TBH, it's making her more relatable than ever.

ICYMI, 2019 has had a pretty rocky start, what with the fact that the United States is currently in a partial government shutdown and the nation's political system seems more divided along party lines than ever. As the youngest woman ever elected to Congress was sworn in alongside the most diverse group of colleagues to date on Thursday, Jan. 3, trolls dug up an old video of Ocasio-Cortez from her days as a student at Boston University. The criticism? That the college student thought that it was OK to do something as normal as letting loose and busting a move to Phoenix's 2009 hit "Lisztomania."

Now-deleted user AnonymousQ1776 circulated the video on Twitter on Wednesday, Jan. 2, writing, "Here is America's favorite commie know-it-all acting like the clueless nitwit she is."

Unsurprisingly, the hatred backfired, because who hasn't busted a move in their college days? Plus, it sounds like a handful of people tried their hand at replicating the viral dance moves from '80s classic The Breakfast Club that year, so Ocasio-Cortez's attempt is far from the only one.

People from both sides of the political spectrum came to the 29-year-old's defense, and on Friday, Jan. 4, the New York politician took to Twitter to clap back at the haters with another video showing her taking her moves to Capital Hill. She captioned the clip, which shows her getting down right outside her office:

I hear the GOP thinks women dancing are scandalous. Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too! Have a great weekend everyone :)

According to ABC7, the clip is already Ocasio-Cortez's most retweeted tweet ever (at the time of publication, it also had 685,000 likes and 15.3 million views).

Followers headed to the comments section to applaud the politician for her response.

It looks like Ocasio-Cortez isn't hiding the fact that she's a dancing queen, as she also re-tweeted a comment she made to The Hill journalist Olivia Beavers.

Beavers wrote, "Asked @AOC re this dancing video. She said: 'It is not normal for elected officials to have a reputation for dancing well and I'm happy to be one.'"

Needless to say, the scrutiny over the 29-year-old's fashion choices, dance moves, and other unimportant details is getting a little old. Now that the congresswoman has been sworn in, the country will be be watching to see how she tries to implement her more progressive agendas, including a suggested 70 percent top tax rate.

Whether or not you agree with her, here's to putting the country's focus back on the matters that are actually important in 2019.