Trump said AOC makes the old men in Congress 'shiver in fear' because she has a strong base like him, report says
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Donald Trump said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez elicited fear in Congress, a new book extract says.
Trump reportedly called her a "failed geek" while acknowledging her influence among Democrats.
He was said to have made the comments at a 2019 event with business leaders including Jeff Bezos.
Donald Trump said during his presidency that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York made old men "shiver in fear" in the halls of Congress, reports say.
An excerpt from the book "In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP" by the journalist David Drucker said Trump made the comments at an event attended by a hundred business leaders in 2019, according to the Daily Mail.
In the closed-door meeting, Trump was said to have called the New York congresswoman a "failed geek" while expressing admiration for her outsize influence within the Democratic Party.
"Let me tell you something about AOC. I've watched her walk down the halls of Congress, and I see these old men shiver in fear. They shiver in fear whenever they see her," Trump said, per the book extract quoted by the Daily Mail.
"You want to know why? Because AOC has a base, just like me."
The Daily Mail described the book as saying Trump's comments elicited "nervous laughter" from the crowd.
Trump also was said to have told the business leaders that reelecting him was the only way to continue their work and stop Ocasio-Cortez's goals for addressing the climate crisis.
"You definitely want to see me reelected if you want to keep being in business," Trump reportedly said.
"You've got this Green New Deal. It's completely crazy. It'll completely shut down American energy. And it's from this failed geek, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."
Trump's speech was an early reelection pitch, the book reportedly said, that came shortly after the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.
High-profile business leaders in the audience were said to have included Amazon's founder, Jeff Bezos, as well as CEOs of companies like JPMorgan, Boeing, and BlackRock.
Some members of Trump's entourage were also said to be in attendance, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trump's daughter Ivanka.
Read the original article on Business Insider
