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AOC Says She’s ‘Doing Therapy’ Due To Jan. 6 Riot; Says Lawmakers Effectively ‘Served In War’

By • May 25, 2021 3:16 pm

Self-proclaimed Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York) said in a new interview that she was “doing therapy” as a result of the riot at the US Capitol earlier this year, and that former President Donald Trump had put her in a “very reactive mode.”

During an interview with Latino USA late last week, Ocasio-Cortez said that the incidents that unfolded on January 6 were “extraordinarily traumatizing.”

In a report, Business Insider noted one claim of the progressive Democrat writing: “…Ocasio-Cortez said that the insurrection was deeply traumatizing for many members of Congress, who effectively ‘served in war.’”

Ocasio-Cortez went on to recall her ordeal that day — which left her traumatized.

“The cycle has just been moved on, but it has deeply, deeply affected lawmaking, policymaking, it has impacted the actual legislative process, the aftermath of it, and it’s very quiet, it’s not spoken about,” the Democratic lawmaker added. 

“I think after the 6th, I took some time and it was really Ayanna Presley, when I explained to her what had happened to me like the day of, because I ran to her office. And she was like, you need to recognize trauma and that this is something that you went through, but we’re all going through.”

AOC says she’s doing therapy

When asked if she was undergoing therapy related to the incident, Ocasio-Cortez confirmed that she is.

“Yeah. Oh, yeah, I am doing therapy,” she said. “But also, I’ve just slowed down.”

“I think the Trump administration had a lot of us, especially Latino communities, in a very reactive mode. And so I’ve been putting myself in a more proactive space,” she claimed.

The progressive lawmaker went on to say that what took place on January 6 was “an all-out attempted coup” — going as far as saying that “the U.S. was potentially only 60 seconds away from having ‘a martial state.’”

Ocasio-Cortez went on to call out her critics saying that those who were lashing at her were doing so out of “white supremacy.”

“I think the attacks on the right are about, there are certain mythologies that are really important to this idea of American exceptionalism,” she claimed. “But there’s also certain mythologies that are very important to maintaining white supremacy, white supremacy in and of itself is a mythology.”

“And you have to protect it in order to protect that political power, which has now become a very important base in the Republican Party. And that’s why that response was so vociferous, to make it seem that it wasn’t as bad as it was, and it was bad,” she continued.

AOC cuts back on social media

Ocasio-Cortez — who, in the past, has used social media to come after Conservatives and her critics — also related how she was stressed online prompting her to drastically reduce her social media use.

“It has consequences on all, including increased loneliness, depression, anxiety, addiction, and escapism,” she said.

The progressive Democrat added: “I actually think that social media poses a public health risk to everybody.”

“There are amplified impacts for young people, particularly children under the age of 3 with screen time. But I think it has a lot of effects on older people. I think it has effects on everybody.”

“I personally gave up Facebook, which was kind of a big deal because I started my campaign on Facebook,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. 

“And Facebook was my primary digital organizing tool for a very long time. I gave up on it,” the Democratic lawmaker said.

“Like every once in a while, you’ll see me hop on Twitter on the weekends, but for the most part, I take consumption of content, when it comes to consumption and reading, I take the weekends off,” she added — possibly in a move to also explain her apparent silence on issues she was vocally critical about during the past Trump administration. 

“So I’m not, like, scrolling through trying to read everything online that journalists are writing on weekends. I try to do that during the workweek,” AOC said.

Meanwhile, earlier in February, Ocasio-Cortez came under fire over initial claims she made about the January 6 Capitol riot, with her critics noting that she wasn’t even in the Capitol when it occurred.

AOC said then: “I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive” adding that “I can tell you that I had a very close encounter where I thought I was going to die.” She also recalled how she allegedly hid behind a bathroom door and heard the police officer break into her office.

But Rep. Nancy Mace (South Carolina) also blasted media coverage of AOC and tweeted that the so-called “insurrectionists” never stormed the hallway that she shares with Ocasio-Cortez.

“My office is 2 doors down. Insurrectionists never stormed our hallway. Egregious doesn’t even begin to cover it,” she said.

Steeve Strange

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