NBC Late Night host Seth Meyers welcomed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to his Tuesday show where they teamed up to lament the GOP’s stance on everything from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to guns to wokeness to Hunter Biden to Tucker Carlson, and even the Forest Service.
In the first segment of the interviewer, Meyers asked “You mentioned Alvin Bragg. Three GOP House chairs basically wrote to him demanding that he come and testify, that he bring documents from this investigation… How do you feel about sort of members of Congress reaching out and trying to, you know, interfere in an el -- sorry, an investigation like this?”
For AOC, it is not about whether Bragg overstepped, but what one thinks of Donald Trump, “[House Republicans] seem to have interpreted their role as just defending and working for Donald Trump sometimes more than working for the kinds of people that they've been elected to serve. You know, we're seeing more energy for defending former President Trump than for passing gun safety legislation, from helping health care, from people in, you know -- from what happened in the spill.”
The second segment focused on all the other allegedly horrible things about Republicans. Meyers began by lamenting, “Kevin McCarthy got the gavel, I—nothing. I feel like we barely hear anything. For someone who's up close to it, what do you feel the GOP is trying to do with this power?”
AOC agreed, “I believe this is the least-productive first three months under almost any Speaker. Potentially in the history of the United States, if not in modern political history... So, they're kind of sitting around, and they're looking at state legislatures, and they're like, ‘Maybe we can ban books’ and we say, ‘No, you should not do that.’”
House Republicans have created a successful bipartisan China Committee, convinced Democrats to kill D.C.’s crime bill, and ended the COVID emergency. Just because they are things AOC and Meyers do not care about, or even oppose, doesn’t mean nothing’s happened.
However, Meyers argued that by focusing on wokeness, Republicans can pretend they are doing something and wondered, “Is that -- are you in actual, you know, meetings and committee hearings where that is the sort of topic du jour?”
AOC confirmed she was, “And I look through this list and I'm like, ‘Oh. Paying members of the Forest Service more than a Walmart greeter,’ using remote work for people with disabilities and people who live in rural areas. You know health care. And like the -- it's just a catch-all term that they use for anything that they don't like.”
It is unclear what she is referring to with the Forest Service talking point. Later, she also lamented that the GOP allegedly believes, “trans kids should not have a safe place to get an education,” and portrayed disrupting legislative proceedings as mere protests, accusing Tennessee Republicans of trying “to expel three Democratic representatives in their legislature because they had the audacity to stand up and protest for gun safety legislation because the state of Tennessee was not acting enough.”
Meyers also lamented “the GOP has also promised to get to the bottom of the Biden crime family and -- their term, not mine. It does not seem as though, you know -- again, as you said, three months, no breaking news.”
That’s not true, but AOC pretended like, “the thing about hearings is that they're not Republican press conferences.”
The January 6 Committee was a Democratic press conference, but AOC still added “[Democrats] can real time fact check you, unlike Fox News as a ‘safe space’ for them you know, you can get fact checked in real time, you'll be debated in real time… now that they're actually in a House majority and they have to actually call hearings and they actually have to legislate and they actually have to be called on things when they're not true, they're like, ‘Wait, this doesn't feel like Tucker Carlson to me!’ It's like, ‘No, baby this is the U.S. House of Representatives!’”
Speaking of echo chambers, there is a reason AOC went to Late Night.
This interview was sponsored by Claritin.
Here is a transcript for the April 4-taped show:
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
4/5/2023
1:13 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: You mentioned Alvin Bragg. Three GOP House chairs basically wrote to him demanding that he come and testify, that he bring documents from this investigation. He -- it seems like the office hit back pretty strongly to that. How do you feel about sort of members of Congress reaching out and trying to, you know, interfere in an el -- sorry, an investigation like this?
ALEXANDRIA-OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, I think what they've attempted to do, whether it's Jim—whether it’s Jordan or Chairman Comer in House Oversight where I said, there needs to be clear jurisdiction and what we have seen from House Republicans especially is that they seem to have interpreted their role as just defending and working for Donald Trump sometimes more than working for the kinds of people that they've been elected to serve.
You know, we're seeing more energy for defending former President Trump than for passing gun safety legislation, from helping health care, from people in, you know -- from what happened in the spill in-- you know, I think what we need to see is an actual government that works for people, no matter what party you're a part of. Instead of which partisan person you're most loyal to.
***
1:23 AM ET
MEYERS: So I feel like for two years we've talked about who's going to win the House and then for weeks we covered who's going to be the speaker. And then since Kevin McCarthy got the gavel, I—nothing. I feel like—
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah.
MEYERS: --we barely hear anything. For someone who's up close to it, what do you feel the GOP is trying to do with this power?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, well -- first of all, you're absolutely right. I believe this is the least-productive first three months under almost any Speaker. Potentially in the history of the United States, if not in modern political history and I think it's because, you know, they talked a lot about winning but they didn't really plan for what they wanted to do. So, they're kind of sitting around, and they're looking at state legislatures, and they're like, "Maybe we can ban books” and we say, "No, you should not do that.”
And I think they're, you know -- I'm so grateful that we have a Democratic Senate and that folks turned out and elected so many incredible members of the Senate to be kind of a stop on that but I just think they don't really know. I also think Kevin McCarthy promised so many people so many different things that he cannot possibly govern with all these pre-commitments that he's made.
MEYERS: A way to, I guess, seem like you're doing something, while also not governing, is to complain about wokeism and how it affects everything from bank collapses to the way our military is being run. Is that -- are you in actual, you know, meetings and committee hearings where that is the sort of topic du jour?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Oh, yeah. House Republicans held an entire -- an entire hearing on “wokeism” in the federal government and federal employment policies. And so, I'm looking at it like, "What is so woke that has them so outraged? And I look through this list and I'm like, "Oh. Paying members of the Forest Service more than a Walmart greeter,” using remote work for people with disabilities and people who live in rural areas. You know health care. And like the -- it's just a catch-all term that they use for anything that they don't like.
MEYERS: And I guess one of the problems is when they actually get to legislating on things like that, even their constituents wouldn't want to lose things like health care, especially when they realize wokeism has nothing to do with it
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, I think that's why they have to call it wokeism, because if they actually told their constituents, "Hey, we don't want the Forest Service folks to get paid well," people would be like, "Why don't you want to do that?"
MEYERS: Yeah.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: And so I think they have to brand it as all this stuff and, I mean, they'll say it often. I was on the floor of a debate around some of their work in trying to ban books. And they call it "parental rights," but they try to package this and use misdirection to say, "We want parents to be more involved and have more of a say in their school."
Well, if you want that, maybe let's create a society where parents aren't working two jobs so that they can be more involved with their kids in school. Instead of -- instead of trying to tell people that trans kids should not have a safe place to get an education, or tell their parents what to do I mean, it's -- you know, I think it speaks to the fact that despite no matter what happens with Donald Trump, Trumpism is still alive. And we've seen it recently, there was just a vote in the Texas -- in the Tennessee State Legislature to expel three Democratic representatives in their legislature because they had the audacity to stand up and protest for gun safety legislation because the state of Tennessee was not acting enough.
And so instead of having vigorous debate, the folks who accuse people of silencing are the ones who are silencing and expelling. The folks who are accusing people of intimidation, like Marjorie Taylor Greene today, you know -- we have New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams blowing a whistle while she was talking. I mean, we all have our First Amendment right, right she goes around calling this intimidation and it's so often this politics of projection in order to get you to become defensive about what this person -- defensive towards yourself about what the other person's actually doing.
And we just need to move out of that space, because I think what most people just want is for us to actually accomplish something as a government that helps working people.
MEYERS: You have also -- I should say the GOP has also promised to get to the bottom of the Biden crime family and -- their term, not mine.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah.
MEYERS: It does not seem as though, you know -- again, as you said, three months, no breaking news.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah. I mean, I -- they've tried you know, they had that big Twitter, Hunter Biden hearing and they're like, "We got him” and then the thing about hearings is that they're not Republican press conferences. You have 50 Democrats that are also -- or however many Democrats in the committee that are also seated on that, and they can real time fact check you, unlike Fox News as a “safe space” for them you know, you can get fact checked in real time, you'll be debated in real time. And they have operated in this insular environment that affirms them no matter how true or false anything they say is, that now that they're actually in a House majority and they have to actually call hearings and they actually have to legislate and they actually have to be called on things when they're not true, they're like, "Wait, this doesn't feel like Tucker Carlson to me!” It's like, "No, baby this is the U.S. House of Representatives!
