That being said, in a recent New Yorker interview, Ocasio-Cortez gave no suggestion of a feud with Pelosi, instead highlighting the House Speaker’s strategic aims.

“I think leadership, their primary goal right now is making sure that everyone who won a swing seat comes back,” Ocasio-Cortez remarked. “So I think that that’s where a lot of their time - rightfully, I think, justifiably - is invested, in those relationships.”

Then, over the weekend, Pelosi came to the defence of The Squad when Donald Trump launched a racist attack on the four congresswomen of colour. “When @realDonaldTrump tells four American congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again. Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power,” she wrote, adding that she rejected his “xenophobic comments meant to divide our nation.”

When you look at the comments in context, it’s clear that there is little hostility between the two women, as Trump would have us believe. But by exaggerating the animosity, we are led to believe that the new generation of politicians, many of whom are bringing unprecedented representation to the fore, pose a serious threat to power. We are led to believe that women of colour are dangerously disruptive. And we are led to believe that the political infighting between Democrats can never result in solid leadership.

More importantly, when you strip away the smokescreen conjured by the prospect of two high-profile women fighting, there is much Donald Trump is attempting to distract from. The suffering of migrant women at the Southern border, the deliberate erosion of women’s reproductive rights, and the slew of sexual misconduct allegations that refuse to disappear from view. These are the topics that should be making headline news, and deserve our full, undivided attention.

Two female politicians disagreeing over a funding bill is not headline news. So let’s not be spun by Trump’s story.

Image: Getty

Don’t be fooled by tabloid headlines, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Pelosi aren’t feuding