AOC Criticizes #TeamMitch For Picture Of Men Choking Cardboard Cut-out Of Her

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez challenged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to explain a picture that involved a cardboard cut-out of her likeness and a group of young men performing violent acts against it.

In the now-viral photograph, the young men can be seen performing inappropriate actions toward the cut-out. One of the men is engaged in a choking action on the neck of the cardboard version of Ocasio-Cortez. Another man is seen holding her body, and acts as if he’s about to kiss the cut-out.

Several of the other men involved in the picture are seen giving the thumbs-down sign.

In a tweet addressing the image, Ocasio-Cortez directly addressed McConnell, pointing out that in her mind “these young men look like they work for you.” All of the men in the picture were wearing “Team Mitch” campaign T-shirts.

“Just wanted to clarify: are you paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll, or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch?” Ocasio-Cortez added in her criticism.

Hey @senatemajldr – these young men look like they work for you.

Just wanted to clarify: are you paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll, or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch?

Thanks. https://t.co/ysRJuwonUx

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 6, 2019

McConnell’s campaign manager, Kevin Golden, denied that the men are a part of the McConnell campaign, ABC News reported. He said the team doesn’t “condone” such actions, though in his statement he also suggested hypocrisy was at play in criticisms against the young men.

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“Team Mitch in no way condones any aggressive, suggestive, or demeaning act toward life sized cardboard cutouts of any gender in a manner similar to what we saw from President Obama’s speech writing staff several years ago,” Golden said.

This is the second incident where the Senate Majority Leader has been criticized over an image on social media over this past week.

McConnell also faced criticisms from his possible Democratic challenger, Amy McGrath, after the McConnell campaign published an image of tombstones with the names of several bill proposals, causes, and names McConnell has defeated or plans to defeat in the future — including McGrath’s, per previous reporting from HillReporter.com.

The picture was posted just hours after a mass shooting occurred in El Paso, Texas, where 22 people were killed and dozens more were seriously injured.

“I find it so troubling that our politics have become so nasty and personal that the Senate Majority Leader thinks it’s appropriate to use imagery of the death of a political opponent (me) as messaging,” McGrath said in response to that photograph.