Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been really playing up her victimhood during the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. But when you objectively look at the facts, the conclusion is simple: she lied and can’t stand being called out on it.

Over the last few weeks, she has accused Ted Cruz of sending in rioters to murder her, accused a Capitol Police officer of being in cahoots with the rioters, and has accused everyone on the right of supporting the riots.

All of which are untrue.

She has maintained that she was in the thick of the riot, that even the Cannon office building, where her office is, was under attack. It is not in dispute that the riot was concentrated at the Capitol building, where Congress actually meets like they were that day, and it is not in dispute that other protestors around the Capitol complex were not participating in the level of violence and destruction that was happening at the Capitol building.

It is also not in dispute that the two pipe bombs found in D.C. were at the DNC and RNC offices, which are blocks away from the Cannon building and could not have posed a major threat to Congresspeople inside the Cannon building.

When called out on all this, including by folks at RedState, she pushed back not with actual debate on the issue, but by sending her followers out to report any accounts on social media spreading misinformation. She didn’t like being challenged, she wanted tech companies to silence her critics.

That is a major problem, and indicative of the key issue with having her continue to get the spotlight as she has been.

She has since tried to move the battleground in this debate by saying the GOP is challenging “accounts” from the day of the riot.

The reason some GOP are trying to sow false doubt about accounts of the Capitol attack is bc they know how powerful the testimony really is.

Each story reveals more details + the need for accountability.

You can see mine here: https://t.co/J7aaTuweLx

& others on CSPAN below ⬇️ https://t.co/5nX8q6R3Wa

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 5, 2021

Now she is trying to change the game here. Now it’s about everyone who was in danger. She is now accusing the GOP of dismissing all accounts from that day because hers doesn’t stand up and she knows it.

She is using this New York Times piece to try and back up her claims, but it is not the claims alone that made her story suspect. It is her framing, which was the accepted framing among all media outlets with anyone questioning it cast out to the wolves.

Ocasio-Cortez framed herself as being in the middle of the riot. She felt threatened, though she was far enough away and in a building that was actively being evacuated. Yes, there are tunnels connecting the Cannon Building to the Capitol building. Those tunnels were not breached, nor is there any indication that anyone tried to breach them.

Curiously, whenever a Republican says anything, there will always be some questioning the hidden “dog whistle” behind their words. Journalists are quick to question the implied meaning behind Republican policies and statements. They will not question why Ocasio-Cortez would portray herself as being in imminent, life-threatening danger when there is no actual evidence of that.

But for Ocasio-Cortez to try and use her position, platform, and audience to try and silence actual dissent is a sign that she is too immature to handle criticism. She doesn’t want any discussion of why she is wrong. She isn’t defending herself. She is silencing criticism. It’s about time for her to grow up and realize her position actively invites criticism — that’s the entire basis of politics.

I am sympathetic to Ocasio-Cortez’s claims of trauma and that it clouded her response in the moment of the riot. But any objective look at the facts from that day shows she was not in the danger she has insisted she was in. She is choosing to lie now, and she wants to silence anyone who questions her. That is immature, and it’s cowardice.