Far-left “progressive” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained that she’d temporarily retired from using Twitter on Monday night, citing “negativity” on the app and stress she’s incurred as a result of using the platform.
The New York Democrat answered a follower in an Instagram Live story who asked her about her recent limited Twitter presence.
AOC had sparingly posted on Twitter during the month of January, going from Jan. 13 until Jan. 31 without posting an original tweet.
“That’s so funny that you bring that up,” the socialist said. “Yeah, when I got COVID I turned off all my devices, which means I wasn’t really on social media that much or anything like that.”
Rep. AOC (D-NY) on her Twitter hiatus: “I would go to open the app and almost felt, like, anxious … there’s a lot of negativity.” pic.twitter.com/NlCFXcrIJd
— The Recount (@therecount) February 1, 2022
AOC explained negative comments on Twitter were giving her anxiety.
She has publicly discussed the state of her own mental health before, indicating that the events of the Jan. 6 incursion into the U.S. Capitol spurred her to begin seeing a therapist.
“So I mean, literally, I would go to open the app and I almost felt like, anxious. People like, kind of fight and gossip, and all this other stuff so much,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“And there’s a lot of negativity on there.”
The Democrat is one of the more prolific social media users in the House of Representatives, boasting nearly 13 million Twitter followers.
AOC pledged that she’d “be back” and returned to Twitter with original content on Tuesday, perhaps motivated by reports of her social media retirement.
The socialist returned with a message critiquing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, picking a fight with a Democrat often unwilling to toe the party line.
Seniors, kids, & people with disabilities in my community have been sleeping with bubble jackets on in 18 degree nights, despite paying rent, bc the NYCHA funding to fix their heating and capital needs is in BBB.
Where should I direct them to wait out the cold? Manchin’s yacht? https://t.co/vXwbVX30ca
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 1, 2022
The Bronx congresswoman was criticized on social media in mid-January following the announcement that she’d tested positive for COVID-19, having been photographed living it up in Florida without a face mask at the start of January.
Ocasio-Cortez has frequently defended mask and vaccine mandates, the former of which she appeared willing to forget upon arriving in the Republican-governed state.
After receiving backlash for her apparent coronavirus hypocrisy, AOC accused her Republican critics of “sexual frustration,” leading to allegations of narcissism and self-obsession on the progressive Democrat’s part.
There’s something to be said for stepping back from the partisan dumpster fire of political social media, but it is questionable that AOC intends to limit her communications presence as a sitting member of Congress.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.