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- Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly attacked Gosar after he shared an animated video of himself killing her.
- Ocasio-Cortez has called Gosar a white supremacist and accused him of being unintelligent.
- "Gosar has nothing but tumbleweeds up there," she tweeted Wednesday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly insulted Republican Rep. Paul Gosar in personal terms after the congressman tweeted out an animated video on Sunday showing him killing Ocasio-Cortez.
The New York congresswoman has accused her Arizona colleague of being a white supremacist. She's also argued that he simply isn't bright. On Tuesday night, she wrote in an Instagram Story that Gosar "couldn't add two single digits together if he tried." She followed that up on Wednesday by adding he has "nothing but tumbleweeds" in his head.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Ocasio-Cortez called Gosar "creepy" and "a collection of wet toothpicks."
"White supremacy is for extremely fragile people & sad men like him, whose self concept relies on the myth that he was born superior because deep down he knows he couldn't open a pickle jar or read a whole book by himself," she wrote.
Gosar spoke at a February conference organized by Nick Fuentes, who has made white nationalist statements. Gosar later tried to distance himself from Fuentes. He's also downplayed political violence committed by conservatives, calling the Capitol rioters "peaceful patriots." Several of Gosar's siblings have repeatedly publicly called on him to resign from Congress. In an August op-ed, they wrote that Gosar is "immune to shame," had displayed "unhinged behavior," and didn't possess "the intellect, character or maturity" to serve in Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez explained that she won't back down when her critics attack or threaten her.
"See, the thing about me is that I will 100% bulldog back a bully," she tweeted on Wednesday. "Ask any Republican I serve on a committee with - when I was first elected, they tried to harp on me and I absolutely handed it to them. Now they don't. Plus it's true-Gosar has nothing but tumbleweeds up there."
A spokesperson for Gosar didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 10, 2021
In 2019, the congresswoman argued that if she and other Democrats didn't push back on "bad-faith attacks," the claims will "grow legs and start walking around." She pointed to the racist "birther" conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama wasn't born in the US - a false claim heavily promoted by Donald Trump that Obama initially ignored.
On Sunday, Gosar tweeted an altered version of the opening credits of a Japanese animated series called "Attack on Titan" that showed him slashing Ocasio-Cortez in the back of the neck and brandishing two swords at President Joe Biden. The tweet prompted swift condemnation from Democrats, some of whom called for Gosar's removal from Congress. Republican leadership hasn't condemned Gosar's tweet.
Twitter flagged Gosar's post on Tuesday for violating its policy on "hateful conduct," but said it wouldn't remove Gosar's video because "it may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
Gosar and his staff have stood by the video and insisted critics were overreacting to the message.