CNN contributor Steve Cortes suggested that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) should resign for “equating” U.S. border guards with the Nazis.
“AOC should apologize at the least and probably resign,” Cortes announced Tuesday during an appearance on CNN.
“Concentration camps”
Ocasio-Cortez accused the Trump administration of detaining migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in “concentration camps” during an Instagram live video on Monday.
Like Cortes, many interpreted her statement as a direct reference to the Nazi concentration camps, where Jews were imprisoned and killed after being rounded up by Hitler’s Nazis.
Ocasio-Cortez addressed the backlash by doubling down. “Concentration camps are considered by experts as “the mass detention of civilians without trial,” she tweeted.
Cortes pushes back
CNN’s Chris Cuomo defended Ocasio-Cortez’s definition, asking Cortes: “Steve Cortes, with the new definition from her, I say concentration camps because that’s how they are defined internationally. That’s what these are. I am not equating with stigma of the Nazis and the Jews. Leave that part aside. Satisfied?”
“No, Chris, that’s a ridiculous excuse for a couple of reasons,” Cortes fired back. “First of all, we all know what the connotation of “concentration camps” is. If we went out on the street and asked 100 random people, 99 of them would tell us — would give us an explanation or a definition that relates to Nazism.
“But secondly, and even more importantly, she used the phrase ‘Never again,’ which we know is specifically linked to the Holocaust, to the Shoah,” Cortes added. “[Ocasio-Cortez] very much demeaned the victims of that horrific tragedy. She also demeaned the American soldiers that smashed the evil perpetrators of that human tragedy.”
He went on: “I would also add this: she also demeaned the current American citizens, many of whom are Hispanic, who do the very hard and dangerous work of guarding our borders. She equated them by association to Nazi SS guards and that is disgraceful.”
Watch the whole segment below:
Partisan smear
Fox News host Laura Ingraham also criticized Ocasio-Cortez’s analogy as “demeaning” to Holocaust survivors, and added that it was a blatant partisan effort to smear the Trump administration.
“Within 24 hours, just as the president announced his 2020 relaunch, Democrats and their media allies are hurling attacks against the administration that conjure up some of the most horrible atrocities ever committed against humankind,” Ingraham said Wednesday on the Ingraham Angle.
Future press secretary?
We could be about to hear a lot more from Cortes, who is reportedly in consideration for the White House press secretary position. Last week, Politico reported that Cortes received a phone call about the job from acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s office.
Cortes has years of TV broadcast experience and is a vocal defender of President Donald Trump’s conservative agenda. He served on Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Committee during the 2016 campaign and is reportedly advising Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign as well.
But there are a number of strong contenders vying to replace Sarah Sanders, who is stepping down as press secretary at the end of the month. Stephanie Grisham, currently the spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump, remains a favorite for the position.