Because of the widespread confusion about what she actually said, much of the right-wing pushback to her story in the days since has really been in response to bits and pieces of her account taken out of context. Some have raised fair questions about her reaction to the officer and her perception of him as hostile. But most have argued against a false version of her story instead.

“People will believe this crap. Some already do,” said Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, who also ignored the detail about the officer in his segment. “Anyone who was physically present at the Capitol that day knows it’s ridiculous,” he said. “There were no rioters in Sandy Cortez’s hallway.”

Again, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t actually claim there were rioters in her hallway. Many of her own supporters also appeared not to understand this fact early on because they had seen only snippets of information instead of watching the entire Instagram Live.