Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed Sunday that people who believe the suggestion that the world will end in 12 years have the intelligence of a “sea sponge,” even though Ocasio-Cortez made that very claim in January.

In January, Ocasio-Cortez said young people were worried “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.” In April, Ocasio-Cortez warned again there were only 12 years left and that “for everyone who wants to make a joke about that, you may laugh, but your grandkids will not.” On Sunday, however, Ocasio. Oh boy, Ocasio-Cortez is flipping out because so many people mocked her for saying the Earth is going to end in 12 years because of Global Warming-Cooling-Moderating-Everything-in-between. Now she’s saying it was a joke.

Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Republicans too often mischaracterize her dry humor and “fact check” her jokes, claiming that they take them too literally. One of her alleged jokes includes a January claim that the world will end in 12 years if we do not address climate change, comparing it to a modern World War II-style struggle.

“Like the ‘world ending in 12 years’ thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal. But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows,” Ocasio-Cortez said:

Ocasio 12 Years A Joker

This is a technique of the GOP, to take dry humor + sarcasm literally and “fact check” it.

Like the “world ending in 12 years” thing, you’d have to have the social intelligence of a sea sponge to think it’s literal.

But the GOP is basically Dwight from The Office so who knows. https://t.co/pmkwrdeAnq

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 12, 2019

“I think that the part of it that is generational is that millennials and Gen-Z and all these folks that come after us are looking up and we’re like, ‘The world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change,’ and your biggest issue is–your biggest issue is, ‘How are we going to pay for it?’” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And, like, this is the war; this is our World War II.”

Ocasio 12 Years A Joke Funny

Readers can decide for themselves whether the progressive lawmaker meant for this to be a sarcastic joke or a serious claim about the alleged dangers of climate change.