Nikki Haley takes on AOC, Squad, ‘ultra-liberal’ policies, rejecting civility

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What do AOC's comments, 'let this moment radicalize you,' actually mean?

The 'Outnumbered Overtime' power panel weighs in.

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley took aim at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and her 'squad' on Thursday, accusing them of pushing “ultra-liberal policies” and preferring confrontation to civility.

“AOC & her fellow ‘Squad’ members are saying that Dems fell short because they aren’t liberal enough and should push harder to enact ultra-liberal policies,” the former South Carolina governor tweeted. 

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“AOC criticized the idea of ‘playing to civility,’ preferring confrontation. What’s right for the Squad is wrong for America,” she said.

Haley appeared to be referring to an interview Ocasio-Cortez gave to Politico, in which the congresswoman said it was time to “take our gloves off with Republicans.”

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“We're always messaging around bipartisanship and how much we love working with Republicans all the time in a lot of these sensitive areas,” she said. “We need to have an unapologetic agenda, have an actual alternative and countermessaging that is distinct from the Republican Party instead of trying to play to notions of civility.”

“I just really hope that it gets through to a lot of people that this idea that we can win over white voters on a civility argument is like not a reliable strategy,” she said.

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The New York congresswoman had also pushed back against fellow Democrats blaming their losses in the House of Representatives on left-wing politicians and policies like the Green New Deal and defunding the police.

Ocasio-Cortez had tweeted that there was no “compelling evidence” for that line of attack and claimed that Democratic incumbents in swing states who sponsored items like the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all won reelection.

“So the whole 'progressivism is bad' argument just doesn’t have any compelling evidence that I’ve seen,” she said.

Her fellow "Squad" member, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., told Politico, “We are not interested in unity that asks people to sacrifice their freedom and their rights any longer."

Haley has been targeting the left-flank of the Democratic Party, especially as Republicans begin to focus on upcoming Senate runoffs in Georgia -- two races that will determine which party controls the chamber.

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On Thursday, she warned that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., would be in line to head the Senate Budget Committee if Democrats win the closely watched races.

“He has said he wants to slash military budgets and called for $97 trillion more in federal spending. Georgia, we are counting on you!” she tweeted, with the hashtag #SayNoToBernie