Whoopi Goldberg Tells Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez To 'Sit Still' And 'Learn The Job'

The 'View' host suggested the rookie representative should give her Democratic predecessors more credit.
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Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s 14th District hasn’t even been in Congress for a week, and she’s already attracted more criticism on the national stage than most other politicians will probably receive all year.

But not all of that criticism is from the right.

On “The View” Monday, Whoopi Goldberg dinged Ocasio-Cortez after the congresswoman’s “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper on Sunday.

“We as a party have compromised too much,” Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper in a clip from the interview. “And we’ve lost too much of who we’re supposed to be and who we are.”

Goldberg argued that Ocasio-Cortez wasn’t giving her Democratic predecessors the credit they deserve.

“It is very, very difficult when people make accusations where you say, you know, the Democrats have done nothing, the establishment of the Democrats have done nothing,” the host said. “And I just want to throw this out to you: [Rep.] John Lewis wasn’t sitting still. [Sen.] Dianne Feinstein wasn’t sitting still.”

There are a lot of people in the Democratic Party, Goldberg said, who have been “busting their asses.”

Ocasio-Cortez has taken a number of anti-establishment positions since arriving on the political scene. She ruffled the feathers of some party colleagues in November when she encouraged future primary challenges against Democratic incumbents. She also participated in a climate change protest outside then-House Minority Leader Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during her congressional orientation.

“It requires risk to try something new, but also we know so much of what we’ve tried in the past hasn’t worked either,” Ocasio-Cortez told Cooper.

“Before you start pooping on people and what they’ve done, you got to do something, too,” Goldberg said on “The View.”

Ultimately, though, Goldberg seemed to give Ocasio-Cortez more encouragement than condemnation.

“So you just got in there, and I know you got lots of good ideas,” the host said, “but I would encourage you to sit still for a minute and learn the job.”

Listen to the entire “View” panel’s comments in the video below.

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