Right-wing influencers are accusing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) of switching the way she speaks in hopes of drumming up support for a future presidential run.
The progressive representative has firmly dismissed rumors about a run in 2028, even as recent polls show Ocasio-Cortez is a top contender in the minds of those surveyed.
But as Ocasio-Cortez hits the road with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on their anti-Trump administration “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, murmurs about a presidential future for Ocasio-Cortez are only growing, given the duo’s massive crowds.
And some right-wingers think they’ve found a clear signal of Ocasio-Cortez’s intentions: the supposed accent she’s using at the rallies.
“AOC tries to sound presidential with new accent,” blasted one right-wing conspiracy theorist.
A number of her critics highlighted another clip of Ocasio-Cortez saying that when President Donald Trump “talks about rapists and criminals, he should look in the mirror” as evidence of the new accent.
“Oh look, AOC is doing the interchangeable accents to fit the demographic she’s in front of,” accused one influencer. “Did she take notes from Kamala?”
“Kamala 2.0,” echoed someone else.
“It’s worse than Kamala’s or Hillary’s,” dug one right-wing aggregator.
Both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew bad-faith criticism for their dialects while campaigning for president—with the right accusing the two Democrats of pandering.
The criticism particularly ramped up when Harris was on the campaign trail after replacing former President Joe Biden in 2024, as conservatives online accused her of using a “fake” accent.
Many speech experts, however, noted that accusations of fake accents ignored the realities of code-switching when speaking to different groups.
One critic of AOC referenced the accusation against Harris, saying: “It’s the Kamala Harris Irish-Jamaican accent!”
“Hahaha they are all so fake!” concluded another of both Harris and Ocasio-Cortez.
“Kamala Harris just introduced yet another new accent. Sike, this is AOC,” wrote a right-wing influencer. “Seems to be using Kamala’s playbook. I guess she didn’t pay attention during the 2024 election.”
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