President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Rep. Alexandria Cortez is a "real beauty" who has a childlike grasp of how the world works.
The video: Trump was speaking at a Whirlpool factory in Clyde, Ohio, when he made the remarks about the New York Democrat, with whom he has publicly sparred.
The president ripped Ocasio-Cortez for what he said was her lack of policy know-how, comparing her to a boy he spotted in the crowd.
- On AOC's assets: "AOC, that’s a real beauty, isn’t it?" Trump said.
- On her knowledge of environmental issues: "She knows as much about the environment — do we have any young children here? — as that young child over there. I think he knows more," he added.
- "And she certainly knows nothing about the economy."
Trump also said the Democrats want to "inflict a socialist takeover of the US economy known as the horrendous Green New Deal," a sweeping legislative proposal spearheaded by Ocasio-Cortez to fight global warming and inequality.
A common Trumpism: Trump has on several occasions said “real beauty” in reference to his opponents in the media, including "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt during an interview last week with Axios.
- Trump also used the phrase to refer to Sen. Corey Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, during a "telerally" for Pennsylvania voters on Sunday and to California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters in an August 2018 rally in Lewis Center, Ohio.
In his speech on Thursday, Trump warned that Democratic policies like the Green New Deal, if enacted, could lead the United States to the kind of economic ruin experienced by Venezuela under its socialist regime.
- “Venezuela was a very wealthy country 20 years ago — one of the wealthiest per capita, one of the wealthiest, tremendous oil reserves, everything. Now, they don’t have food. They don’t have water. They don’t have medicine. They don’t have anything. Same thing could happen,” he said.
- Trump has framed the 2020 election as a choice between him and radical left-wing "Democrats" trying to impose "socialism and worse."
