Ocasio-Cortez tells GOP to ‘try talking’ after McCarthy ouster: ‘Line’s open!’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took a swing at her colleague Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Friday, telling him if Republicans need help from the Democrats, the “line is open.”

“Stop trying to make fetch happen. It’s not going to happen,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an exchange with fellow New York Rep. Mike Lawler (R) on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, referencing a popular line from the 2004 comedy “Mean Girls.” 

“Take some personal responsibility for the fact that your party is a chaos factory,” she continued. “You asked for a GOP majority, and this is what we get with one. If you want Dems to bail you out so badly, try talking. Line’s open!”

Her remarks come after Lawler shared a post from Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) calling on “five or more” Republicans to unify with the Democrats — seemingly referring to the selection of the next House Speaker.

“We need patriots to rise above the partisanship,” Ryan wrote.

In response, Lawler shared the post on his X feed.

“Patriots?” he wrote. “You voted with Matt Gaetz to burn the house down. Just stop.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s comments followed.

The fiery exchange comes after eight Republicans voted alongside Democrats in a 216-210 vote on Tuesday that led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his leadership role. McCarthy, ahead of the vote, said he wouldn’t offer anything to Democrats to keep the gavel.

“They haven’t asked for anything. I’m not going to provide anything,” he said.

Lawler had previously expressed disappointment in Democrats for not supporting McCarthy continuing as Speaker.

“You have [House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)] acting like he’s trying to work in a bipartisan manner. He says we’re going to continue putting people over politics,” Lawler said in response to a question from The Hill. “That is the biggest load of garbage I’ve ever heard.”

“They literally just aligned themselves with Matt Gaetz and the MAGA extremists to burn down the House,” he continued. “And they act as though you know, ‘We stand up for democracy; we stand up for our institutions.’ This was an opportunity to actually show leadership, real leadership, not nonsensical BS.”