Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is doubtful about running for president in the future because "so many people in this country hate women" and "would never let that happen."
The 32-year-old New York congresswoman expressed her pessimism in an interview with GQ where she shared her thoughts on when young girls say they want her to run for the White House.
"Sometimes little girls will say, ‘Oh, I want you to be president,’ or things like that," she told me when I asked about whether she believed that she or someone like her could ever lead our country," Ocasio-Cortez said.
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"It’s very difficult for me to talk about because it provokes a lot of inner conflict in that I never want to tell a little girl what she can’t do. And I don’t want to tell young people what is not possible. I’ve never been in the business of doing that. But at the same time…"
At this point, it was noted in the piece how the politician's "speech slowed" on the topic and "Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes."
AOC then explained how her mind holds "two contradictory things at the same time," the first being the "relentless belief that anything is possible," and goes on to express how her experience as a congresswoman has tarnished this outlook.
"But at the same time, my experience here has given me a front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color.
"People ask me questions about the future. And realistically, I can’t even tell you if I’m going to be alive in September. And that weighs very heavily on me. And it’s not just the right wing. Misogyny transcends political ideology: left, right, center.
"This grip of patriarchy affects all of us, not just women; men, as I mentioned before, but also, ideologically, there’s an extraordinary lack of self-awareness in so many places. And so those are two very conflicting things. I admit to sometimes believing that I live in a country that would never let that happen," AOC added.
The congresswoman also detailed how she "experienced a lot of targeting diminishment from my party. And the pervasiveness of that diminishment, it was all-encompassing at times," when she won the 2018 midterm primary against then-Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crawley.
"It was open hostility, open hostility to my presence, my existence," Ocasio-Cortez recalled.
Four years on, the congresswoman admitted she feels "a little more steady on my own two feet now" but also said she doesn't have the power to shift the elected federal Democratic Party.
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