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The Girls Are Fighting! AOC Reads Buttigieg for Adopting a "GOP Talking Point"

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had some thoughts on Pete Buttigieg's latest campaign video warning against alienating half the country over tuition-free college.

It's been an interesting week for presidential hopeful and America's nerdy gay uncle Pete Buttigieg. As he's risen in the polls, he's become more of a lighting rod for criticism. After being called a "lying motherfucker" in this wonderful editorial from The Root's Michael Harriot over past comments on racial disparity in education, progressive lawmaker and Sasha Velour stan Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken aim at Mayor Pete over his latest comments on college debt and tuition.

The Buttigieg campaign dropped a new video on Tuesday with their candidate advocating for affordable tuition for everybody, while shading his more progressive opponents, Elizabeth "I Have a Plan for That" Warren and Bernie "Just Vote Me in Already" Sanders.

"There are some voices saying, 'Well, that doesn't count unless you go even further, unless it's free even for the kids of millionaires,' but I only want to make promises that we can keep," Buttigieg says.

The 37-year-old mayor has really been South Bending over backwards to make himself into an electable moderate with bipartisan appeal, but in the process he's been criticized for not thinking big enough in contrast to his older but more progressive rivals. So in response, Buttigieg promises "big ideas" that are not only achievable but won't "turn off half of the country" before even getting into office, again referring to Sanders and Warren.

Sanders and Warren both proposed plans to cancel student loan debt and make public colleges tuition-free for everyone. Buttigieg's plan would make public colleges free for 80 percent of American students, those coming from families making less than $100,000. In other words, no free rides for "kids of millionaires."

Ocasio-Cortez, a former Sanders aide who recently endorsed the senator from Vermont for the Democratic nomination, had some thoughts on Mayor Pete's "big ideas"—particularly one that sounded like a "GOP talking point."

In a Twitter thread, on Thanksgiving of all nights, AOC let down her ponytail and went in on Buttigieg's messaging, claiming that his argument against tuition-free college "is a GOP talking point used to dismantle public systems, [and] it’s sad to see a Dem candidate adopt it."

The Buttigieg campaign has yet to respond to AOC's Twitter read, but if anything, the young mayor has shown a remarkable ability to take criticism and grow from it. After being called a lying motherfucker by Michael Harriot, he called up Harriot to talk but mostly listen. So maybe once the dust clears, Mayor Pete and AOC can hash things out over whatever the two of them have in common...a love of fiscal minutiae? Or maybe since Buttigieg likes to listen so much, he can listen to two hours of AOC recapping the first eleven seasons of Drag Race.

2020. Building bridges. One tuck at a time. (That one's on the house, Buttigieg campaign.)

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