Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) excoriated Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) on Twitter on Monday after he posted an anime video with his face superimposed on a figure violently attacking characters depicting Ocasio-Cortez and President Biden.
“This dude is a just a collection of wet toothpicks anyway,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet thread.
“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 added.
Ocasio-Cortez also slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the thread, saying Gosar will not face any consequences because McCarthy will “cheer him on with excuses.”
She also detailed times she’s been verbally harassed by other members of Congress, including an incident last summer when she was accosted by then-Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) on the Capitol steps.
In another incident, she recalled being aggressively confronted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), which at the time prompted Ocasio-Cortez to call on House leadership to ensure “a safe, civil place for all Members and staff.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday called for investigations into Gosar for his video and encouraged McCarthy to do the same.
“Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated,” she tweeted Tuesday. “@GOPLeader should join in condemning this horrific video and call on the Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate.”
Gosar’s video features characters from a Japanese-style anime series, their faces superimposed with pictures of Gosar and two other conservative lawmakers — Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Greene — who are armed with swords.
The video shows Gosar’s character attacking a character depicting Ocasio-Cortez by striking her in the back of the neck with a sword.
Gosar responded to the onslaught of criticism from Democrats in tweet Monday morning with a white male character saying, “It’s a cartoon. Relax.”
The Hill reached out to Gosar’s and McCarthy’s offices for comment.