Elon Musk and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have been engaged in an all-out brawl on social media as the Democratic Socialist lawmaker fired back at the Tesla mogul for referring to her as “not that smart” over her stance on illegal immigration.
Ocasio-Cortez hit back at Musk on Wednesday, posting on the X social media platform: “I wasn’t born rich and became the youngest woman in American history to be elected to Congress.”
“Then I investigated [former Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen, authored the largest FEMA funeral assistance program in history and led creation of a US Climate Corps to create tens of thousands of new jobs.”
“Stay mad,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote to her more than 13.2 million followers on the platform formerly known as Twitter, adding an emoji showing a woman tipping her hand.
Ocasio-Cortez’s clap-back generated more than 106,000 likes, 14,000 comments, and 8,500 reposts.
Musk, who owns X after acquiring the company for $44 billion last year, fired back at Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday, writing: “I take it back — you’re obviously a genius.”
The world’s richest man then wrote: “First, please allow me to congratulate you on these epic achievements.”
“However, have you considered, rather than ‘funeral assistance’, that FEMA focus its funding on preventing funerals in the first place?” Musk wondered sarcastically.
Ocasio-Cortez went back at Musk on Thursday, criticizing the X owner and a Republican congressman who “decided to skip town to joyride” with the mogul in Eagle Pass, Texas — the border town where tens of thousands of migrants have been pouring into the country in recent weeks.
Reacting to a photo posted by a Fox News reporter showing Musk and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) in the front seat of a car near the border, Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Thursday: “What’s funny about this photo?”
“The House is holding important votes in DC tonight, people are scrambling to avoid a shutdown, but this Republican Congressman decided to skip town to joyride with a billionaire when his own party has just a single-digit margin and needs his vote.”
Musk took a trip to Eagle Pass and began livestreaming his observations on X.
“Situation is beyond insane and growing fast,” Musk wrote in a post on Friday morning.
For the past several days large groups of migrants, mostly from Venezuela, have been wading across the Rio Grande river near a railroad bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, undeterred by coils of razor wire laid along the banks.
Under a new rule put in place in May by the administration of President Joe Biden, migrants who have not sought an appointment to cross at a legal port of entry on a government-run cellphone app known as CBP One can face a higher bar to asylum and potentially swift deportation.
Migrant numbers had initially plummeted after the announcement, but in recent weeks began rising again as thousands of migrants – many fleeing Venezuela – making their way through south and central America began arriving at the border.
Ocasio-Cortez last week played down the severity of the migrant crisis, insisting that the numbers of undocumented who crossed into the US paled in comparison to the number of those who entered the country through Ellis Island last century.
Her observation prompted Musk to remark on X that she was “not very smart” — continuing a long-running feud that has prompted Ocasio-Cortez to vow that she would trade in her Tesla for an electric vehicle made by a company that employs unionized workers.
The Tesla boss has a history of trolling Ocasio-Cortez on social media.
Last year, the mogul responded to her tweet about “some billionaire with an ego problem” by joking: “Stop hitting on me, I’m really shy.”
“I was talking about Zuckerberg but ok,” Ocasio-Cortez shot back at Musk, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, before deleting the response about a minute later.
With Post Wires