A New York state senator chastised Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., over her background after she referred to herself as a tough “Bronx girl” during an internet battle with President Donald Trump.
Republican State Assemblyman Matt Slater chastised the leftist firebrand, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, by sharing a photograph of her from her freshman year at suburban Yorktown High School, an affluent private school that is over an hour north of the Bronx.
“If you’re a BX girl then why are you in my Yorktown yearbook? Give it up already,” Tweeted Slater, who was a senior at the same school when Ocasio-Cortez was a freshman.
Slater’s decision to act occurred after Ocasio-Cortez became involved in a social media feud with Trump, which began when she called for his impeachment due to his authorization of strikes against Iranian nuclear targets the previous weekend.
“When I saw the tweet making her out to be this tough Bronx girl, I’d just had enough,” Slater told Fox News Digital. “I literally just reached behind me and grabbed my yearbook, clicked the photos and said: ‘Listen, enough is enough.’”
“You’re from Yorktown,” he said. “Let’s end this charade and come clean.”
Prior to Slater’s post, Ocasio-Cortez traded barbs with Trump via social media.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump criticized the congresswoman, calling her “stupid” and “one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress.”
“When we examine her Test Scores, we will find out that she is NOT qualified for office but, nevertheless, far more qualified than Crockett, who is a seriously Low IQ individual, or Ilhan Omar, who does nothing but complain about our Country, yet the Failed Country that she comes from doesn’t have a Government, is drenched in Crime and Poverty, and is rated one of the WORST in the World, if it’s even rated at all,” Trump added.
In response, Ocasio-Cortez, who graduated from Yorktown High School in 2007, wrote a series of posts on X criticizing Trump.
“Also, I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully,” she said, referring to Trump’s Queens roots and upbringing.
The constant references to the Bronx disrespect the congresswoman’s Yorktown upbringing, Slater said.
“That fact that she continues to go on this charade, I think disrespects this town,” he said. “I think that’s part of the problem these days. People just want real leaders, and not manufactured, fake folks who feel like they have to hide their past or create this false narrative to score points or votes and get attention.”
“I went to college in New Hampshire. I don’t say I’m from New Hampshire,” he added.
Ocasio-Cortez frequently boasts her Bronx roots, despite having spent a significant portion of her upbringing further north.
She grew up in the borough’s Parkchester planned neighborhood until the age of five, when she relocated to Yorktown Heights, a Westchester County suburb, seeking better schooling.
“It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people,” she said in reference to Yorktown in a 2018 tweet questioning her Bronx upbringing. “My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity.”
Slater argued that Ocasio-Cortez was misrepresenting herself so that she could be seen as “relatable” to voters.
“Clearly, hiding or distorting her roots was done for a very specific reason and obviously that reason was to help her get elected,” he said. “That fact that she keeps putting up this front. I just got to that point where I was like ‘enough is enough.’ If you’re not going to be honest about it then we’re going to be honest for you.”