Riley Gaines, the former collegiate swimmer turned Republican activist, traded barbs with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on social media that amounted to personal attacks after claiming the New York lawmaker was destroying the country.
Gaines, 25, began the feud with Ocasio-Cortez Sunday after claiming, on X, that the United States was being “destroyed from within” by the New York congresswoman, as well as New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Ocasio-Cortez, 36, responded by insulting Gaines with a personal attack, telling the former collegiate swimmer that if she “channeled all this anger into swimming faster,” then she “wouldn’t have come in fifth.”
It was a reference to Gaines tying for fifth place in a collegiate swimming competition with Lia Thomas, a transgender woman whose participation in the race Gaines has repeatedly criticzed.
Gaines has become an outspoken conservative activist and President Donald Trump supporter, using the momentum of outrage against transgender athletes competing in sports to build a base of like-minded people. In addition to a large social media following, Gaines has a podcast with OutKick.
She’s no stranger to feuding with high-profile people on social media, especially over inclusionary policies. Earlier this year, she got into a spat with Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles
Gaines did not leave the feud with Ocasio-Cortez there.
She responded on X, calling Ocasio-Cortez a “misogynistic dunce” and later went on Fox News show The Ingraham Angle to challenge the New York Democrat to a debate.
“I want to honestly challenge AOC to a debate,” Gaines said. “She can defend socialism; I will defend capitalism. She can defend removing God; I will defend embracing a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice; I will defend the sanctity of life.”
Ocasio-Cortez responded to the clip of Gaines on X: “And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job.”
Gaines shot back at Ocasio-Cortez, pointing out that the lawmaker was “jobless” due to the government shutdown.
“And I guess I’ll take that as a no (which is to be expected when your positions are indefensible on virtually every issue),” Gaines taunted.
The conservative activist continued to hit back at Ocasio-Cortez on X, telling the lawmaker that being a mother is “a real job” and encouraged Ocasio-Cortez to have children to be more empathetic. She also reposted statements from other conservatives defending her against Ocasio-Cortez.
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