Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) ripped into critics of her radical Green New Deal proposal in an interview Friday, declaring herself "the boss" since she was at least trying to solve a problem.
Earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez rolled out the resolution that proposed a total overhaul of the U.S. economy and energy sectors over the next 10 years, coupled with progressive policies unrelated to addressing climate change. Critics, some of them on the left, derided it as far to expensive and impractical; kinder observers called it "aspirational."
In an interview with Reshma Saujani of "Girls Who Code," Ocasio-Cortez spoke of the doubters she had when she took on Rep. Joe Crowley (D., N.Y.) in her stunning Democratic primary upset last year and how she dismisses skeptics now.
"You know what? I don't care anymore. I don't care anymore, because again, I'm at least trying, and they're not," Ocasio-Cortez said. "So the power is in the person who's trying, regardless of the success. If you're trying, you've got all the power. You're driving the agenda. You're doing all this stuff."
She took a defiant tone to the delight of her audience in Queens, New York, in a clip flagged by Daily Wire's Ryan Saavedra.
"Like I just introduced Green New Deal two weeks ago, and it's creating all of this conversation. Why? Because no one else has even tried," she said. "So people are like 'Oh it's unrealistic, oh it's vague, oh it doesn't address this little, minute thing.' And I'm like, you try, you do it! Because you're not! Because you're not. So until you do it, I'm the boss! How about that?"
She made similar remarks earlier in the interview about the anxiety she feels being in the spotlight and doubt she's felt about herself.
"I have started to just roll with it ... Like guess what, I made a mistake, deal with it," she said. "I'm trying, and you're not."
She cited Theodore Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" quote about how it's not the critic who counts, but the person who's actually trying.
"Bravery is the moonshot, and that is really what it's about. Bravery is, this is probably not going to work, but it's worth trying," she said. "That's what bravery is."