Sen. John Kennedy, R-L.A., slammed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.,Friday, saying “she must be bilingual — she’s speaking English and stupid” after the New York Democrat accused President Donald Trump of wanting children to die without health insurance.
The White House accused Ocasio-Cortez of resorting to “baseless hysteria” to score campaign donations from her far-left voting base during the government shutdown fight.
Kennedy told Fox News’ Johnny Jones that while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is “getting a lot of the blame” for Wednesday’s government shutdown, “the group calling the shots is the socialist wing,” spearheaded by Ocasio-Cortez.
“I don’t mean any disrespect, but based on her policies and beliefs, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is single-handedly trying to put an end to dumb blonde jokes. Based on her policies — $1.5 trillion. She must be bilingual. She’s speaking English and stupid,” Kennedy said.
Senator Kennedy just delivered two of the most savage takedowns of AOC ever uttered by a politician.
The first one was so spot-on it caught Fox host Johnny Jones off guard—he immediately cracked up:
“Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is single-handedly trying to put an end to dumb… pic.twitter.com/SroRzQ2Pqt
— Overton (@overton_news) October 3, 2025
White House spokesman Kush Desai told The New York Post Saturday that Ocasio-Cortez is drumming up hysteria to raise money.
“If AOC really cared about America’s kids, she would stop drumming up baseless hysteria and tell her fellow Democrats to re-open the federal government and restore confidence for the millions of children who rely on WIC and other federal programs,” Desai said.
Desai was responding to a fundraising email blast Ocasio-Cortez sent Thursday seeking donations of $5 or higher where she alleged Trump “one day” decided “he wants to make sure kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance.”
“This is about people being able to insure their children,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I will say, because I saw some Senators speculating about this, and I saw some Republican Members of Congress saying, ‘Well, if we have this shutdown it’s because of AOC’ — my office is open, and they are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly.”
“Because what I’m not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans because Donald Trump decided one day he wants to make sure kids are dying because they don’t have access to insurance. That’s what’s not going to happen.”
The federal government shut down at midnight Wednesday after all but three Senate Democrats voted down a short-term funding bill. Trump blamed Democrats for the shutdown in a Truth Social post Thursday.
“THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO GIVE YOUR HEALTHCARE MONEY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS AND OPEN OUR BORDERS TO THE CRIMINALS OF THE WORLD, A DEADLY COMBINATION BECAUSE EVERYBODY WILL COME!” Trump wrote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushed back on the allegation Friday.
“These people lie for a living,” Jeffries said, pointing out that extending taxpayer dollars to cover healthcare for undocumented immigrants is already illegal under federal law.
Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of The Bronx and Queens, is reportedly mulling a U.S. Senate run or White House bid in 2028.