Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Nauseating’ for Trump to put Limbaugh ‘on the same level’ as Rosa Parks

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed President Trump on Tuesday after he awarded conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom during his State of the Union address.

In an Instagram Live broadcast after the speech, Ocasio-Cortez hammered Trump, accusing him of putting the right-wing radio host “on the same level” as other recipients such as Rosa Parks.

“[T]he Presidential Medal of Freedom is an extraordinarily sacred award,” she said. “We’re talking about putting someone on the same level as Rosa Parks, you know, for example in terms of their contributions to American progress.”

“Rush Limbaugh is a virulent racist, but even just on top of that, to do it in the middle of a State of the Union and not even dignify it with its own ceremony as it has — there’s all sorts of norms that are being violated, not just for people’s humanity, but also it truly just cheapens the value of it,” she added.

Trump praised Limbaugh, a vocal supporter of his administration, at the State of the Union hours earlier, which Ocasio-Cortez had boycotted along with a handful of other Democrats.

Limbaugh’s award followed his public revelation of a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer on his show on Monday.

“Here tonight is a special man, someone beloved by millions of Americans, who just received a stage 4 advanced cancer diagnosis. This is not good news, but what is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet,” Trump said during his remarks.