Sponsored

AOC Gets Schooled During Battle With Athlete

By No Comments
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Photo Credit: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @ SXSW" by nrkbeta is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Riley Gaines isn’t backing down from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after the pair clashed online over transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.

The former NCAA swimmer delivered a blistering response to the Democratic congresswoman after AOC took a shot at her athletic record in a heated social media exchange that has captured national attention.

The confrontation centers on Gaines’ ongoing fight against transgender athletes in women’s sports and her fifth-place tie with Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.

The clash began Monday afternoon when Gaines posted an image on X showing Ocasio-Cortez at the “New York Is Not For Sale” rally alongside Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Bernie Sanders.

Gaines captioned the photo with a pointed message: “We’re being destroyed from within.”

Ocasio-Cortez quickly fired back with a personal jab at Gaines’ swimming career.

“Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,” the congresswoman wrote, referencing the race where Gaines and Thomas shared fifth place.

The conservative activist and former collegiate swimmer launched a counterattack that highlighted what she sees as hypocrisy from the left on women’s issues.

“It’s always ‘we support women’s rights!’ until it’s a woman who wants the right to compete & undress free from less than mediocre men Keep your mentally ill men out of our sports, locker rooms, prisons, etc.,” Gaines wrote in her initial response.

She followed up with an even more pointed rebuke. “It’s always hilarious when they think they’ve landed a ‘gotcha’ by pointing out I was the 5th-fastest woman in the nation yet they conveniently forget the mediocre man who ranked 462nd in the men’s division lol. Misogynistic dunce,” Gaines posted.

The number 462 refers to Thomas’ ranking when competing on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team before transitioning.

Thomas later competed for Penn’s women’s team in 2021-22 and won a national championship, a move that sparked widespread controversy and became a flashpoint in the debate over biological males competing in women’s sports.

Gaines currently leads a group of 19 female athletes in a lawsuit against the NCAA over the organization’s policies on transgender athletes.

A federal judge in Atlanta recently ruled that the Title IX claims against the NCAA can proceed to the next stage, marking a significant victory for Gaines and her fellow plaintiffs.

Not content to let the exchange end there, Gaines appeared on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” Monday night and threw down a debate challenge to the New York congresswoman.

“Any of the radical, insane Democratic policies and platform that they stand for, I will debate the opposite,” Gaines told host Laura Ingraham. “I’m challenging AOC to it here.”

“I’ll debate her anytime. She can defend socialism — I’ll defend capitalism. She can defend removing God — I’ll defend a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice — I’ll defend the sanctity of life,” she offered.

Ocasio-Cortez responded with another dismissive jab, captioning a video of the interview with, “And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job.”

Gaines called the response “comical,” pointing out that the Democratic Party had just shut down the government, which has “left you technically…jobless.”

“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 added.

Hours later, Gaines took another swing at the congresswoman, this time invoking motherhood.

“I have a real job. I’m a mom. It’s the most important & rewarding job in the world. I think if you had a baby girl like I do, you’d understand my positions a little better,” was Gaines’ reply.

Gaines then retweeted fellow conservative Allie Beth Stuckey, who had reposted a 2020 message from AOC claiming “sex work is work.”

“Being a mom and women’s advocate isn’t a ‘real job’, but prostitution is. Girls having access to private spaces and fair competitions isn’t women’s rights, but murdering babies is. Noted,” Stuckey wrote.

Even NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo weighed in, criticizing Ocasio-Cortez for engaging in what he called a “teenage trash-talking battle” with Gaines.

“She could be one of the main contenders for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States,” he began. “Maybe vice president of the United States.”

“She matters. She’s got a big following, she’s got big charisma, she’s got a growing amount of power,” he noted.

“To be in a teenage trash-talking battle with Riley Gaines, saying she doesn’t have a real job, saying if you didn’t come in fifth, maybe you wouldn’t be so upset — you want to lead the country?” he blasted.

“I don’t think these kinds of antics are getting you where you want to be with the majority in this country.”

The controversy comes as Thomas recently spoke out against critics of biological males competing in women’s sports, marking some of her first public comments on the issue since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Trump made “keeping men out of women’s sports” a central campaign promise and signed an executive order to ban trans athletes from competing against women after winning the election.

Speaking on WHYY, Thomas didn’t mention Trump by name but criticized those who support efforts to exclude transgender athletes from women’s competition.

“You don’t get to pick and choose when you see me as a woman,” Thomas said. “You don’t get to say, ‘You can be a woman in these situations, but not in these’ because you would never do that to a cis woman.”

“But for trans women, a lot of people think ‘Oh, it’s okay for me to be the arbiter and pick and choose when I see them as women.'”

Thomas also disputed widely supported scientific claims that trans women have a biological advantage over women born female due to experiencing male puberty.

“There are massive losses to muscle mass, strength and endurance, and to make blanket statements like, ‘Oh, I see you as a woman, but you just shouldn’t compete in women’s sports’ is both transphobic and not reflective of the realities of being trans and being on HRT (hormone-replacement therapy),” Thomas said.

The University of Pennsylvania has since aligned with the Trump administration’s position, agreeing not to allow trans athletes to compete and stripping Thomas of past titles.

Gaines hosts OutKick’s “Gaines for Girls” podcast and continues her advocacy work fighting for what she describes as fairness and safety for female athletes.

 

Leave A Reply