Why AOC Was Talking to Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz on the House Floor

A curious scene played out on the House floor this afternoon when Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was seen chatting with Republican Paul Gosar: 

AOC is the most famous left-winger in the House, and Gosar has palled around with white nationalists. In November 2021, the House censured Gosar and threw him off committees for posting an anime video depicting Gosar slaying AOC with a sword. 

So what brought the two together on the House floor today? Ocasio-Cortez told National Review that “apparently Kevin McCarthy was making a claim that there’s a possibility that some Democrats could” not cast votes “in order to lower the threshold” of votes McCarthy needs to win the speakership, “and some of the Republicans who are holding out were wondering if that was true. And I said, ‘Absolutely not. I was not going to walk away.’”