AOC reads Riley Gaines to filth over anti-trans campaigning: ‘Get a real job’
AOC got into on socials with Riley Gaines (Neil Constantine/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
AOC got into on socials with Riley Gaines (Neil Constantine/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez read anti-trans pundit Riley Gaines to absolute filth, leading to a very public spat between two figures at the opposite end on the US political spectrum.
MAGA Trump supporter Gaines is a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) swimmer and is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing trans swimmer Lia Thomas to compete. In 2022, Thomas became the first trans woman to win a National Collegiate Athletic Association swimming championship when she came first in the 500-yard freestyle and during the same meet tied for fifth place with Gaines in 200-yard freestyle, who at the time was swimming for the University of Kentucky.
In the years since, Gaines has become a darling of right-wing and an anti-trans pundit, with her activism mainly focusing on excluding trans people from sport.
On Monday (27 October) Gaines shared an image taken of New York Democrat Ocasio-Cortez, known more commonly as AOC, Senator Bernie Sanders and New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani at all rally for the latter’s campaign, captioning it: “We’re being destroyed from within.”
In response, AOC replied by calling out Gaines tie in her championship race, writing: “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth.”
Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth. https://t.co/gkiEyZ8JGX
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2025
Hitting back at AOC, Gaines labelled the left-wing lawmaker a “misogynistic dunce”, writing: “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.”
In a subsequent interview on Fox News, Gaines said she wants to challenge AOC to a debate.
“She can defend socialism; I will defend capitalism. She can defend removing God; I will defend embracing a biblical worldview. She can defend child sacrifice; I will defend the sanctity of life,” Gaines said.
Resharing a clip of Gaines saying this, AOC replied: “And I would like to challenge this person to get a real job.”
“This is comical given it’s coming from someone whose own party shut down the government and left you technically…jobless,” Gaines taunted, in reference to the current government shutdown.
“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 replied: “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.”
