Riley Gaines, AOC trades barbs leading to debate challenge

Riley Gaines challenged rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, to a debate Monday after the two sparred on social media.

Gaines, an OutKick contributor, appeared on Pakinomist Channel’s “The Ingraham Angle” after Ocasio-Cortez responded to the former NCAA swimmer’s criticism of the Democrat.

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“So here’s what I’m going to say. I’m going to honestly challenge the AOC to a debate,” Gaines said. “She can defend socialism. I’ll defend capitalism. She can defend removing God. I’ll defend embracing a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice. I’ll defend the sanctity of life. Any of the radical, insane Democratic policies that they stand for, I’ll debate the opposite, and I challenge the AOC to this.”

Pakinomist Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment, but the spat continued on social media.

Ocasio-Cortez later responded, “And I want to challenge this person to get a real job.”

Gaines fired back at Ocasio-Cortez.

“This is comical coming from someone whose own party shut down the government and left you technically…unemployed. And I guess I’ll take that as a no (which is to be expected when your positions are indefensible on pretty much every subject),” she wrote on X.

“I have a real job. I’m a mom. It’s the most important and rewarding job in the world. I think if you had a little girl like me, you’d understand my views a little better.”

Gaines posted a photo with Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Gaines wrote, “We are being destroyed from within.”

The New York Post editorial board slammed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., for creating the policies that have made New York City too expensive for residents. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

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Ocasio-Cortez responded: “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster, you wouldn’t have come in fifth.”

“Her position is morally bankrupt and politically foolish. To be clear, yes, I finished fifth in the nation at the Division I national championships, tied with a 6-foot-4 man who was 462nd in the men’s division the year before,” Gaines said. “It was like a ‘South Park’ episode, but in real life. And whose side is the AOC and the rest of the Democratic Party taking? They’re taking the 6-foot-4 man who flashed his junk at women in the locker room — that’s whose side they’re taking.

Riley Gaines, a former All-American University of Kentucky swimmer, speaks in front of Florida Governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis at the Greenville Convention Center on Friday, June 2, 2023. (MCKENZIE LANGE/ Staff / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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“They can’t help but be on the wrong side of every 80/20 issue, whether it’s the border, whether it’s crime, whether it’s castrating children, whether it’s parental rights, whether it’s men in women’s sports.”