Last week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the Electoral College a "scam" and advocated for abolishing the system. The Trump re-election campaign is now using that as fodder.
The campaign sent an email on Tuesday attacking Ocasio-Cortez. "She made it very clear that she thinks coastal liberals in New York and California should have all the power in this country and that Patriotic Americans across the Nation shouldn't have a voice," it reads before reminding the congresswoman and her fellow Democrats that "this our country, not theirs." NBC News notes that, while targeting the Democratic party as a whole, the phrasing strikes a similar tone to the racist language President Trump used when he told Ocasio-Cortez and three other Democratic congresswomen of color to "go back" to the countries they "originally came from," even though three of the four lawmakers were born in the U.S. and all four are citizens.
The email also fluctuates between criticizing Ocasio-Cortez, who is known for her progressive politics, for trying to appease both a "radical socialist base" and the "Coastal Elites and Liberal Mega Donors" — two groups that aren't normally believed to be in cahoots with each other. For what it's worth, the congresswoman was specifically arguing that the Electoral College stymied the voices of people of color.
Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez highlighted a 2012 tweet that showed Trump hasn't always been the biggest fan of the system himself outside of the time it helped him win a presidential election. Tim O'Donnell