Ocasio-Cortez: GOP’s communist warnings ‘very silly’

House Ocasio-Cortez: GOP’s communist warnings ‘very silly’ Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 07/23/26 3:43 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 07/23/26 3:43 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday called Republicans’ warnings about a supposed communist threat are “very silly.”

Ocasio-Cortez laughed when asked if there were concerns over democratic socialism becoming “full-blown communism” during a gaggle with reporters on Capitol Hill.

“I think it’s very silly,” she added. “Just think about how impossible it has been to raise the minimum wage in America in 10, 15, 20 years. We can’t even raise the minimum wage –– do Republicans really think that this stuff is going to happen? No, they don’t.”

Ocasio-Cortez added that Republicans were “trying to scare people because they don’t want us talking about the fact that we all have the right to health care in this country.”

She continued that Republicans “want to call it communist and they want to call everything they don’t like ‘communist.”

“Because if people actually wake up to the fact that their elected officials are screwing them over when they get here, then they’re going to realize they deserve better and that health care, as a right, isn’t crazy,’ she added.

Republicans and some Democrats have fumed over the successes democratic socialist candidates have had in recent victories against incumbent Democrats during the 2026 midterm election season.

Democratic socialist candidates have seen victories in New York, Pennsylvania and Colorado, as well as major cities like Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. These candidates have campaigned on addressing rising costs and inflation, holding the Trump administration accountable and against Israel’s partnership with the U.S. following the country’s war in Gaza.

President Trump conflating the candidates’ ideology with communism, said last month communism is the biggest threat facing the country, “maybe since our founding.”

House Republicans have repeated to the president’s claim, with some including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) claiming that “these crazy little mini-Mamdani’s … are a danger to you and your family.”

“The radical left feels they need to hide what their policies are,” House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) said on Tuesday. “They soften the language. They invent nicer labels. They call themselves ‘democratic socialists,’ almost as though they’re ashamed to tell the American people what they actually believe.”

“Let’s call it what it is,” she added. “It’s communism.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, as he convened with officials from more than 60 countries, called for an “international response” to left-wing political violence. He said the U.S. will have its counterterrorism efforts shift to crack down on what he called “far-left terror.”