NRA targets Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in scathing attack, labelling her a 'self-absorbed socialist darling'

Host of gun lobbying group's TV channel says congresswoman makes him 'sick'

The National Rifle Association has launched a scathing attack on Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, branding the congresswoman a “self-absorbed socialist darling”.

Grant Stinchfield, who is a host on the TV channel of the largest gun lobbying group in America, said Ms Ocasio-Cortez made him “sick”.

Mr Stinchfield, a self-described “firearms enthusiast”, hit out at the Democrat for criticising the war in Afghanistan.

“AOC thinks the war was disastrous and wrong,” he said on NRA TV. “The woman whose Green New Deal promises to figure out a way to handle cows that pass gas, is now crapping on patriotism and of course national security.”

He accused Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York’s 14th congressional district and is the youngest ever US congresswoman, of not caring about the September 11 attacks.

“What is troubling is AOC is from New York too but she clearly doesn’t care, because she is so self-absorbed, she can’t feel the impact of a horrific terrorist attack,” he said.

His comments came after Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a self-avowed socialist from the South Bronx, said that both the Republican Party and Democrats led her generation “into a disastrous” and “wrong war”.

She also called for an end to the Authorisation for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) law, which was passed three days after the September 11 attacks.

It gives the president authority “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organisations, or persons he determines planned, authorised, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept 11, 2001, or harboured such organisations or persons”.

Mr Stinchfield, who cites “his love of guns” on his website, then veered off-piste, mentioning Ms Ocasio-Cortez having to wait for her congressional salary to kick in before she could rent a flat in Washington DC.

“She focuses on a fake tragedy, like having to wait a few weeks for her paycheck when she got elected to office and moved to Washington DC,” he said.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez worked as a bartender before thrashing Democrat stalwart Joe Crowley – the 10-term representative and then-fourth-ranking Democrat in the House – last year.

Last August, she said the transition period would be “very unusual because I can’t really take a salary”. She said: “I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real.”

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has worked as a waitress, children’s book publisher, community activist, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and volunteered for Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr Stinchfield also attacked Ms Ocasio-Cortez earlier in March – likening her to the Venezuelan president and referencing her Instagram account where she has 2.7 million followers.

“Nicolas Maduro with a ponytail and an Instagram account,” he said.

Social media users have argued comparisons between Ms Ocasio and Mr Maduro, the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, are racist. The Republican National Committee branded her the “mini-Maduro” of the Democratic party last summer.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez supports abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the creation of a universal healthcare system. This year, she has asserted that Donald Trump is “no question” a racist, and beaten back a manufactured controversy over a video of her dancing while in university.

The NRA donated more than $30m (£21.4m) to Mr Trump’s presidential campaign, meaning he received the most gun lobby funding of any presidential candidate.