During a CNN town hall last night, U.S. lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for “drinkable” air and blamed pollution on an accounting firm.
The Squad member apparently confused the accounting company Deloitte with the company DuPont. CNN hosted Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and Bernie Sanders, I-VT.
The 90-minute town hall followed 15 days into a federal government shutdown. Meanwhile, the White House poked fun at the gaffes reminiscent of the Joe Biden administration on social media.
AOC says "rivers were on fire" because of corporations like Deloitte "pouring chemicals" into waterways.
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) October 16, 2025
Deloitte is an accounting, consulting, and tax services firm.
No idea what she's talking about. pic.twitter.com/mLX64nPnVk
"Air that is drinkable." - @AOC pic.twitter.com/ASqqlrVltd
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) October 16, 2025
The lawmakers took questions at one point. Attendees asked about health care costs, the government shutdown, and more.
AOC also urged the government to reopen. She didn’t mention that U.S. Senate Democrats have voted not to reopen the government at least nine times since the shutdown started on Oct. 1.
The Rapid Respond 47 account replied:
Who wants to tell this moron that Democrats are the only ones who can re-open the government?
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 16, 2025
Republicans have done their job — voting to do so (NINE TIMES). @AOC pic.twitter.com/wWWo1XUdJQ
Not be be upstaged, Bernie Sanders mistakenly said Amazon founder billionaire Jeff Bezos owns X.
Sanders responded to the question: “Why does Republican messaging on social media seem so much more effective than Democratic media and what can we do about it?”
Bernie Sanders just said that Republicans are good at social media because Jeff Bezos owns X.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) October 16, 2025
Biden 2.0? pic.twitter.com/ao8aTODvRu
Someone else asked: “How does this shutdown reflect on Chuck Schumer’s leadership?
Sanders responded: “I think it reflects more on Mike Johnson’s leadership and President’s Trump leadership.”
Sanders started to answer, but then asked the person for an opinion.
🔥Bernie got COOKED.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 16, 2025
This guy just calmly smacked Bernie Sanders down in a single sentence.
BRUTAL. pic.twitter.com/BV1cgFEsip
Democrats in the Senate refuse to reopen the government unless Republicans give health care to illegal immigrants,
🚨 Important reminder:
— Mike Johnson (@MikeJohnson) October 16, 2025
It’s bad enough the Democrats continue to vote to keep our government closed.
What’s even WORSE is that the supposed reason for this stunt is healthcare - which THEY themselves have singlehandedly made more expensive and less accessible!
Don't believe…
To end the shutdown, Democrats are DEMANDING $1.5 TRILLION in new partisan spending.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 15, 2025
This is an unserious proposal made by unserious people.
Here are just a few of the things they are using to take the government hostage ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/IIyQz16t1P